Healthcare Reform and Abortion
by Deacon Michael Bickerstaff | March 17, 2010 12:01 am
As we consider the federal efforts for healthcare reform, who speaks of justice for the Unborn?
Martin Luther King once wrote from the jail in Birmingham, Alabama, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” These words, so eloquent in their appeal for justice for all people of our nation and world, must also apply to those who in the wombs of their mothers face danger where they should be most protected and safe.
Are you willing and ready to end the silence? Overcome the fear? Put aside the apathy?
This nation cannot long survive this injustice.
The US Bishops oppose the flawed current legislative efforts. From their latest news release, we read:
What do the bishops find so deeply disturbing about the Senate bill? The points at issue can be summarized briefly. The status quo in federal abortion policy, as reflected in the Hyde Amendment, excludes abortion from all health insurance plans receiving federal subsidies. In the Senate bill, there is the provision that only one of the proposed multi-state plans will not cover elective abortions – all other plans (including other multi-state plans) can do so, and receive federal tax credits. This means that individuals or families in complex medical circumstances will likely be forced to choose and contribute to an insurance plan that funds abortions in order to meet their particular health needs.
Further, the Senate bill authorizes and appropriates billions of dollars in new funding outside the scope of the appropriations bills covered by the Hyde amendment and similar provisions. As the bill is written, the new funds it appropriates over the next five years, for Community Health Centers for example (Sec. 10503), will be available by statute for elective abortions, even though the present regulations do conform to the Hyde amendment. Regulations, however, can be changed at will, unless they are governed by statute.
Additionally, no provision in the Senate bill incorporates the longstanding and widely supported protection for conscience regarding abortion as found in the Hyde/Weldon amendment. Moreover, neither the House nor Senate bill contains meaningful conscience protection outside the abortion context. Any final bill, to be fair to all, must retain the accommodation of the full range of religious and moral objections in the provision of health insurance and services that are contained in current law, for both individuals and institutions.
Read the Bishop’s entire news release: http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-043.shtml
Source URL: https://integratedcatholiclife.org/2010/03/healthcare-reform-and-abortion/