The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is facing a new scandal after revelations that its official anti-poverty program, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), awarded $355,000 to the Ostara Initiative, an organization that allegedly promotes access to abortion for incarcerated women, according to documentation published by the Lepanto Institute. Since 2019, CCHD has funded Ostara six times, despite its own rules forbidding grants to groups that oppose Catholic moral teaching—especially regarding abortion, contraception, or gender ideology. The Lepanto Institute’s report cites public statements by Ostara leaders defending abortion as a “constitutional right.” In 2018, co-founder Erica Gerrity acknowledged that Ostara’s Minnesota Prison Doula Project supported incarcerated women seeking reproductive care, including abortion. That same year, Rebecca Shlafer, the group’s research director, criticized the lack of abortion access for imprisoned women. In 2022, both …