Bishops drop opposition to health care reform legislation and anger some pro-life groups

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made it clear they would not support health care reform legislation that did not include language to explicitly exclude federal money from funding abortion. The Stupak amendment passed the House paving the way for the passage of the House version of health care reform. Cardinal George, president of the USCCB, and Cardinal Rigali, chairman of the USCCB pro-life committee, each issued a statement that with the inclusion of the Stupak amendment, there is no longer a need to vigorously oppose the legislation. This position has drawn the ire of pro-life groups such as the American Life League (ALL). Judie Brown, president of the ALL, issued a statement that said in part:

"Our Catholic bishops should be fearlessly leading the way towards a culture of life. Fighting to maintain a status quo that has led to the destruction of 51 million preborn children is wrong and confusing to 65 million Catholics united in the defense of life.

"What Cardinal Rigali has permitted, by way of political maneuvering, is to allow an amendment to be heard and, we fear, later watch it be defeated. While our Catholic bishops will scramble to define their opposition to abortion in the aftermath, Pelosi will wave Rigali's support for health care reform as evidence that lay Catholics would somehow be wrong in opposing her bill.

"In endorsing Pelosicare, our Catholic bishops have risked making themselves political pawns in advancing a culture of death that treats human beings as disposable.

Such accusations are misplaced. The inclusion of abortion funding makes the legislation intrinsically immoral. The bishops have a moral obligation to explicitly oppose it. Without such a non-negotiable offense, the legislation becomes a matter of prudence and politics. Cardinal George makes this clear in his statement:

In the national discussion on how to provide the best kind of health care, we bishops do not claim or present ourselves as experts on health care policy.  We are not prepared to assess every provision of legislation as complex as this proposal.  However, health care legislation, with all its political, technical and economic aspects, is about human beings and hence has serious moral dimensions.  Our focus is the concrete realities of families with children and their access to doctors, the poor and the elderly, those with limited means and those with few or even no means, such as the mother carrying a child in her womb.   Our Catholic commitment to health care picks up the pieces of our failing system in our emergency rooms, clinics, parishes and communities. This is why we believe our nation’s health care system needs reform which protects human life and dignity and serves the poor and vulnerable as a moral imperative and an urgent national priority.

We remain deeply concerned about the debate that now moves to the Senate, especially as it will affect the poor and vulnerable, and those at the beginning and end of life. We will continue to insist that health care reform legislation must protect conscience rights.  We support measures to make health care more affordable for low-income people and the uninsured. We remain deeply concerned that immigrants be treated fairly and not lose the health care coverage that they now have.  We will continue to raise our voices in public and in prayer; we ask our people to join us in making the moral case for genuine health care reform that protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all.

The stated purpose of this legislation is to provide increased access to health care for all Americans. Faithful Catholics are free to debate whether or not the particulars of this legislation meet the stated aims and offer support or opposition accordingly. The bishops have not disengaged. Cardinal George has stated they will remain vigilant in their evaluation of the moral implications of this legislation as it progresses from the House to the Senate and then to the conference committee. President Obama, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and multiple pro-abortion members of the House have stated they do not support the Stupak amendment. Should these abortion advocates succeed in removing the Stupak language from the final legislation, the bishops will once again vigorously fight the legislation. It is interesting that the pro-abortion forces are threatening to withhold their support of health care legislation if the Stupak language is included. President Obama claimed in his address to a joint session of Congress that the health care legislation would not include federal funding of abortion. His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, chided the bishops for suggesting that the current legislation would include federal funding for abortion. If their assertions were true, the Stupak amendment would have little effect on the status of abortion funding in the bill since it was not being covered anyway. The howls of protest by pro-abortion forces belie such claims.

The implementation of any health care reform legislation will also be monitored by the bishops. The House legislation includes the health care advisory panels that decide what is covered and what is not. If such panels rely on utilitarian principles such as those advocated by Tom Daschle, Peter Singer and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, care decisions will be based on the patient's perceived worth to society. This would be morally objectionable and one would expect the bishops to fight such strategies. On the other hand, if such panels acknowledged the intrinsic dignity of every human life and allow care decisions to be made on an analysis of proportionate versus disproportionate care, there would be no reason for the bishops to object.

For more info: 

USCCB health care web site

American Life League