facebook
rss
twitter
  • About
    • Contact
    • Elementary & Secondary Education Department
    • Social Concerns Department
  • Legislative Review
  • Issues
    • Catholic Education
    • Faith and Politics
    • Health Care
    • Life and Dignity
    • Marriage and Family
    • Religious Liberty
    • Social Justice
  • Bishops’ Statements
    • En Español
  • Resources
    • Bulletin Inserts
    • Church Documents
    • PA Catholic Statistics
    • Related Sites
    • Send A Letter to The Editor
  • Subscribe
    • RSS Feeds
    • Via E-mail
  • Contact
  • Podcast

Health care reform must not be vehicle for ‘abortion rights’ agenda

August 03, 2009
by Hill
abortion, federal funding, Health Care, health care reform, healthcare, pro-life
Comments are off

Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference (PCC) wrote on July 29 to the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging them to amend “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act” (H.R. 3200) to retain longstanding government policies on abortion and conscience rights.

Cardinal Rigali reiterated criteria for “genuine health care reform” set forth by Bishop William Murphy, Chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Policy, in his letter to Congress on July 17. He described health care as “a basic right belonging to all human beings, from conception to natural death” and said that “the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is working to ensure that needed health reform is not undermined by abandoning longstanding and widely supported policies against abortion funding and mandates and in favor of conscience protection.”

The Cardinal enumerated several problems with the bill as introduced: It would be used to mandate abortion coverage in private health plans, expand abortion funding, override state laws that limit or regulate abortion, and endanger existing laws protecting the conscience rights of health care providers.

“Much-needed reform must not become a vehicle for promoting an ‘abortion rights’ agenda or reversing longstanding current policies against federal abortion mandates and funding,” he wrote. “In this sense we urge you to make this legislation ‘abortion neutral’ by preserving longstanding federal policies that prevent government promotion of abortion and respect conscience rights.”

“Several federal laws have long protected the conscience rights of health care providers,” Cardinal Rigali added. “President Obama recently stated that he accepts these current laws and will do nothing to weaken them. Congress should make the same pledge, by ensuring that this legislation will maintain protection for conscience rights.”

The Cardinal closed by urging the House Energy and Commerce Committee to support amendments by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joseph Pitts (R-PA) to address these problems in H.R. 3200. The full text of his letter is available at: www.usccb.org/prolife/CardRigali-AbortionNeutralReform-7-29-09.pdf.
—

For more information on the USCCB position on Health Care Reform, visit www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/healthcare and www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/health1.shtml.

Social Share
  • google-share

News From Around PA

  • Catholic Schools Week activities planned across region Jan. 30 – Feb. 3
  • Catholic Schools Week kicks-off in archdiocese with Mass at Holy Trinity School
  • January 24, 2023 Clergy Official
  • Oblates to return administration of Annunciation Parish to Diocese on June 30
  • Polish family murdered by Nazis along with Jews they sheltered recalled on Holocaust Remembrance Day; family’s martyrdom paves way for beatification
  • Full Time Office Administrator -- Catholic Parish Cemeteries Association, West End
Click To Read More

Post Archives

Unable to load Tweets

Follow

Recent Posts

PCC Capitol Wrap for Tuesday, 1-31-23
Jan 31, 2023
PCC Capitol Wrap for Monday, 1-30-23
Jan 30, 2023
PCC Capitol Wrap for Friday, 1-27-23
Jan 27, 2023

All Issues

  • Catholic Education
  • Faith and Politics
  • Health Care
  • Life and Dignity
  • Marriage and Family
  • Religious Liberty
  • Social Justice

banner

Sign up to join the Catholic Advocacy Network today!

CClogo© 2021 Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Bookmark and Share Site by Halibut Blue® | Login