Opposing proposed 'religion-based' health care bill amendments

The Secular Coalition for America (SCA) is standing in opposition to three proposed amendments to the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill that they claim would alter public policy to privilege religious people. Although these amendments may never reach a vote, they are encouraging Americans to take a stance against them.

The first amendment is bipartisan in nature and is being sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), According to SCA's Executive Director, Sean Faircloth, "the amendment would require private and public health plans to cover all 'spiritual care' - whether or not the individual has religious objections to medical care." In addition to claiming that this type of funding "undermines our Constitution and will open up your tax dollars to scam artists," he said that "this amendment will make an existing problem worse."

According to Sean, there currently exists some "spiritual care" coverage in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. He asserts that "[t]his 'spiritual care' includes reimbursements for payments that Christian Scientists make to members of the Church who pray for them when they are ill.  Numerous children have died while receiving this "spiritual care" when modern science would easily have saved their lives. And you helped pay!"

He goes on to say that "[u]nder the new amendment, all health plans would be obligated to cover such expenses.  The Hatch-Kerry bill amendment doesn't stop there, expanding this practice to all Americans, regardless of whether or not they object to medical care.  Tax payers would help foot the bill for this religion-based care, care offering no scientific evidence of effectiveness.  'Care'" which, in fact, endangers lives by placing government approval on non-scientific practices."

Another proposed amendment the SCA is opposing is one introduced by Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming). This amendment would make it possible for doctors and other health care providers to deny patients information and care that goes against their religious beliefs. Sean said, "This violation of medical ethics is labeled with the Orwellian term 'Conscience Clause' - i.e. denying or delaying proper care for a person in need. This amendment cruelly places the religious beliefs of practitioners (such as pharmacists) above the medical needs of patients. This amendment threatens [our] access to contraception, end-of-life care, HIV care, and any other care to which a health provider employee objects."

The third amendment that SCA is opposing is one proposed by Senator Hatch. The proposal requests that funds be restored to the Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. SCA believes that "Congress has wasted $ 1.5 billion on such programs since 1996" that do not work. According to Sean, SCA contends that, "[n]umerous studies, including a 10-year government-funded evaluation of the Title V abstinence-only program, have found that these programs do not delay sexual initiation and have no beneficial impact on young people's health or sexual behavior. In addition to being ineffective and leaving out information on safe sex, many such programs contain false and misleading 'medical' statements and teach religious propaganda and theologically-driven gender stereotypes to our children."

SCA is encouraging people to contact the Finance Committee in support of SCA to express their disdain for these proposed amendments. When you contact them, let them know that you are calling in support of SCA.