As California Catholic Daily reported on Sept. 5, the state’s bishops have urged Catholics to contact Gov. Jerry Brown to ask him to veto Senate Bill 623, which would extend a UCSF pilot program that trains non-physicians to perform abortions. But that is not the only bill passed by the legislature in the crosshairs of the bishops. Here are excerpts taken from the homepage of the California Catholic Conference, the bishops’ public policy arm, regarding other bills the bishops want the governor to veto:

We will be lobbying the Governor to veto two other life and dignity issues we opposed: AB 1657 (Wieckowski, D-Fremont) to increase traffic fines to fund immoral, speculative and unproven embryonic stem cell research and AB 2348 (Mitchell, D-Los Angeles) allowing registered nurses as well as physicians to dispense oral contraceptives on the basis of the author’s questionable claim that women lacked access.

Regarding marriage and family issues, we will be asking the Governor to veto SB 1140 (Leno, D-San Francisco), which “protects” clergy from coercion to perform marriage solemnizations to which they object — although both the U.S. and the California constitution guarantee their religious liberty — and adds the author’s personal definition of marriage in an inappropriate section of the code of California law.

We will also be asking the Governor to veto SB 1172 (Lieu, D-Torrance), which bars the psychological/psychiatric treatment or counseling of minor children experiencing confusion about sexual feelings or attractions, thereby undermining parental rights.