Lord, we pray for a culture of life and a commitment to liberty to flourish in this land. May truth overcome all obfuscation. And may the precious lives of prenatal children be cherished in our hearts and protected in our laws.

Dozens of legislators wrote to a top Biden administration official several months ago. The government had just dropped a Trump-era conscience rights lawsuit, and these leaders were alarmed that the administration appeared willing to ignore individual liberties “at the behest of the abortion lobby.”

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They finally received a response. But it was a “nonresponse,” according to one senator.

A bit of background. In August more than 80 members of the U.S. Senate and House fired off a letter to two Cabinet officials — Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland — after they dropped a legal proceeding against a federally aided hospital that had allegedly forced a nurse to participate in an abortion. According to the Members of Congress, the University of Vermont Medical Center had “knowingly, willfully, and repeatedly” transgressed conscience-protection statutes and created a workplace “hostile toward people of faith.”

Last December the Trump administration sued the hospital for discriminating against pro-life health care workers. But this year Becerra’s HHS team decided to reverse course, leading the Department of Justice to dismiss the case.

The letter-signers called this a “profound miscarriage of justice” and a signal to organizations that they can ignore federal law without consequence. They demanded an explanation. And they wanted answers in August to some very specific questions.

When he eventually got back to the legislators earlier this month, Becerra didn’t give them much. According to a Daily Signal exclusive report, Becerra wrote a terse 3-paragraph letter. He noted the lawsuit dismissal and suggested HHS was still evaluating the complaint.

In his concluding paragraph, the secretary contended, “HHS remains committed to the enforcement of all its legal authorities, including statutes which protect the exercise of conscience and religious freedom, and we appreciate having the benefit of your views on this matter.”

One of the congressional effort’s leaders, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), was not pleased by this “nonresponse,” but also not too surprised.

“Secretary Becerra clearly would rather promote abortion and force individuals to participate in the taking of the life of children in the womb, rather than enforce the law that protects people of conscience,” Lankford told the Daily Signal.

It’s worth remembering that Secretary Becerra has already irritated pro-life lawmakers. For example, last May he was so brazen as to assert to a House panel that there was no law against partial birth abortion. That’s a jaw-dropping comment from a longtime lawyer — the former California attorney general, in fact. It’s particularly astounding since he was actually present in the U.S. House for the Partial Birth Abortion Ban debate in 2003! (He voted against the ban).

Of course, Becerra is not the first to question the term “partial birth abortion.” The affirmation of “birth” irks extreme abortion activists by drawing attention to the gruesome details of this absolutely heinous practice that brutally destroys a child. So they like to obfuscate about whether it’s a “medically recognized” term. But we know what it is, and the law clearly speaks to it. That Becerra would use such an outrageous talking point is very revealing.

After that flap, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, “A misstatement like that is embarrassing enough. The radicalism that lies behind it is even worse.”

You can see why legislators might be wary of Becerra’s “nonresponse,” despite his curt head nod to  conscience protection and religious freedom law. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), one of the leaders on the original letter, told the Daily Signal, “Xavier Becerra is too busy protecting hospitals that violate the rights of their nurses to give a straight answer.”

Cotton added a challenge, “The Biden administration needs to answer for why its health secretary is sabotaging federal conscience protection laws.”

Aaron Mercer is a Contributing Writer with two decades of experience in Washington, D.C.’s public policy arena. Picture Credit: Getty Images.