Why Catholics Will Not Get Abortion Out of the Health Care Bill

Inside Catholic,cim ^ | 8/03/09 | Deal Hudson

[Salvation]

 

Why Catholics Will Not Get Abortion Out of the Health Care Bill

by Deal W. Hudson   

8/03/09

 

 

The Congress and the White House have little to fear from the bishops' official statements opposing the abortion provisions in the health care bill. Unlike with President Barack Obama's appearance at Notre Dame, there is no chorus of bishops' voices rising in protest against the bill; most of the Catholics in Congress support it, and mainstream Catholic organizations like Catholic Charities USA and the Catholic Health Association -- which some assume speak for the bishops -- have also voiced their support.

 

The overall impression given by Church leadership thus far is that universal health care coverage is so badly needed that they are not willing to endanger the legislation by protesting too loudly against abortion coverage.

 

The only notable resistance against the abortion provisions has come from a Catholic, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ); an Evangelical, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN); and 20 "blue dog" Democrats, led by Catholic Bart Stupak (D-MI), who signed a letter asking explicitly that abortion coverage be removed from the bill.

 

Two official letters from the USCCB have been sent to members of Congress. Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Policy, wrote on July 17 asking Congress to remove abortion coverage. And on July 26, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote asking them to support an amendment to exclude the abortion mandate from any health care bill.

 

President Obama continues to talk about abortion reduction (as he did with Pope Benedict XVI on his Vatican visit) at the very moment the Senate version of the bill -- which contains abortion coverage -- is being considered in committee.

 

Obama also feigns indifference to abortion coverage as part of federally mandated universal health coverage. When asked directly about abortion and the health care bill in a July 21 interview with Katie Couric, Obama said any decision about abortion coverage would be left to experts, like pro-abortion Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

 

Yet only a few days earlier, one of Obama's closet advisers assured members of Planned Parenthood that the Obama administration would not buckle to pressure and remove abortion coverage from the health care reform package. Tina Tchen, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, supported her promise by quoting from a January 22 statement from the president praising Roe v. Wade.

 

Tchen's reference to one of Obama's presidential statements is ironic: Obama complained to Catholic journalists about the pro-lifers who expect "the worst" from him, claiming there was nothing in his record as president that should be cause for such concern. He argued, "It's not based on anything I've said or done, but is rather just a perception, somehow, that we have some hard-line agenda that we're seeking to push." Tchen evidently disagrees.

 

 

Many Catholics are asking why Catholic Charities USA and the Catholic Health Association are backing a health care bill that two USCCB letters have sharply criticized for its abortion coverage. A LifeSiteNews (LSN) interview with the head of another mainstream Catholic organization supporting the present health care bill may answer the question.

 

When told by the LSN interviewer that the health care bill included an abortion mandate, Roger Playwin, the national executive director of the venerable St. Vincent de Paul Society, replied:

 

The bishops' office has advised us that that's not accurate. So I can't speak to it, because all I know is that the bishops' office has said that story is going around, but it's inaccurate. That's all I know.

 

When asked for clarification about where he got that information, Playwin clarified that it did not come from the USCCB but rather from Catholic Charities USA. In other words, Playwin somehow received a message from Catholic Charities USA that abortion coverage was not contained in the House and Senate versions of the bill -- which is simply not true, as the letters from Bishop Murphy and Cardinal Rigali attest.

 

Yet both Catholic Charities USA and the St. Vincent de Paul Society sent out legislative alerts asking for support for health care reform and did not mention the issue of abortion services.

 

So why should either Congress or the White House be afraid of Catholic criticism of the health care bills as they now stand? Yes, the USCCB has made its official statements, but there's no great roar of opposition to the prospect of federally funded abortion services as a part of universal health care.

 

As far as the public's perception is concerned, the "Catholic" imprimatur on health care reform has come from Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Health Association, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. (God help us if L'Osservatore Romano weighs in on this!)

 

The good news is the two-month delay in voting on the bill. Richard Doeflinger, associate director of the bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, told the National Catholic Register, "Right now, these bills are a moving target.... But we will stay on top of it and continue to educate the public."

 

Whether or not abortion services remain in the health care bill will be a definitive test of the bishops' ability to educate and to put the "fear of God" in the Congress and the White House. It is a test, I fear, they will fail.

 

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Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com and the author of Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster).

[Salvation]

Readers have left 31 comments.

What do you think?

[Salvation]

Here’s what I think — these Bishops came out (over 100 of them) against Obortion Obama during the election. (I will post the list below.)

Why aren’t they speaking out against the mandated abortion in this bill?? Let alone the mandated euthansia espoused in this bill.

I feel sick to my stomach right now.

[Frantzie]

Notre Dame = football, basketball and abortion. ND can go to h*ll.

[Salvation]

Over 100 Bishops Have Spoken Out on Priority of Life Issues
Posted on October 28, 2008, 11:59 AM | Deal W. Hudson

The list of U. S. bishops who have spoken out on the priority of the life issues in this election is now over 100. The list now contains 70 individual bishops and three joint statements.

I would like to continue updating this list until the day of the election. I have tried to incorporate all the comments thus far. If I dd not get them all, I apologize. (For a few of the suggestions, I could not find a suitable link.)

Please continue using the comments section to let us know what bishop is not on this list who should be. This would include any bishop who has individually, or jointly, published a statement about this election pointing out the primacy of the life issues.

Thank you for your help.

1. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver

2. Bishop James Conley, auxiliary of Denver

3. Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.

4. Justin Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities

5. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine

6. Edward Cardinal Egan of New York

7. Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo

8. Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh

9. Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs

10. Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio

11. Bishop Oscar Cantu, auxiliary of San Antonio

12. Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre

13. Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa

14. Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas

15. Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin

16. Sean Cardinal O'Malley of Boston

17. Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando

18. Archbishop John Nienstedt of Saint Paul/Minneapolis

19. Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, President of the USCCB

20. Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker

21. Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse

22. Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland

23. Bishop Ralph Nickless of Sioux City

24. Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco

25. Bishop Glen Provost of Lake Charles, LA

26. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn

27. Bishop Joseph F. Martino of Scranton

28. Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura

30. Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte

31. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh

32. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, KS

33. Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO

34. Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, WS
35. Bishop Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, KS
36. Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, KS
37. Bishop Michael Jackels of Wichita
38. Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach
39. Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth

40. Bishop Rene H. Gracida, retired, of Corpus Christi

41. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of Houston

42. Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington

43. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond

44. Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Center

45. Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester

46. Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Patterson

47. Bishop Robert Herrmann of St. Louis

48. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore

49. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix

50. Bishop Thomas D. Doran of Rockford

51. Bishop Joseph A. Galante of Camden

52. Bishop Robert J. Baker of Birmingham

53. Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett of Seattle

54. Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Joliet

55. Bishop John M. Smith of Trenton

56. Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing

57. Bishop Leonard R. Blair of Toledo

58. Bishop Frances J. Dewane of Venice

59. Bishop W. Frances Malooly of Wilmington

60. Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison

61. Bishop John Yanta , retired, of Amarillo

62. Bishop James V. Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

63. Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland

64. Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City

65. Bishop Lawrence Brandt of Greensburg

66. Bishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinatti

67. Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu

68. Bishop Paul Swain of Sioux Falls

69. Bishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe

70. Bishop Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City

71. Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Harrisburg

72-94. Joint Statement by the bishops of New York State (22 bishops)

95-111. Joint Statement by the bishops of Pennsylvania (16 bishops)

112-116. Joint Statement by the bishops of Kansas (4 bishops)

117-126. Joint Statement by the bishops of Florida (9 bishops)

Added by me

 

127. Bishop Tobin -- http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=30333 ^

 

128. Archbishop Wilton Gregory  georgiabulletin.org ...

 

129. Archbishop Dolan http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/32482989.html.

 

130. Archbishop Elden Curtiss Omaha http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2123119/posts?page=1

 

131. Bishop Carlson's of Michigan pastoral letter in full, go to:
http://www.saginaw.org/images/election-statement_carlson_102...

 

Catholic Ping!

[Salvation]

We all need to contact our bishops and ask them to speak out against the aortion and euthanasia in the Obamacare bill.

Bishops listed by Diocese

Bishops by Name

Bishops listed by state

[Salvation]

This isn’t about Notre Dame, this is about Obamacare.

[Unam Sanctam]

I feel the devil is hard at work, and we all need to pray long and hard for this country.

[Salvation]

This isn’t about Notre Dame, this is about Obamacare.

[Salvation]

Organizations in that link above

My jaw just hit the floor as I read it.

Here's the links to voice our displeasure at their point of view.

CHA declined any further comment on the matter.

To express concern:

Catholic Charities USA
66 Canal Center Plaza
Suite 600
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone: (703) 549-1390
Fax: (703) 549-1656
info@catholiccharitiesusa.org

Sister Carol Keehan, President and CEO
The Catholic Health Association
1875 Eye Street NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20006-5440
phone: (202) 296-3993
ckeehan@chausa.org

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
58 Progress Parkway
St. Louis, Missouri 63043-3706
phone: 314-576-3993
fax: 576-6755
usacouncil@svdpusa.org

[Frantzie]

Notre Dame showed that many Catholics, at least what I call “Notre Dame” (faux) catholics with a small c, could care less about abortion. They (50+%) love Obama and voted for him.

Notre Dame fawning over Obama allowed Obama to realize he can push abortion and do whatever he wants and catholic universities will give him awards.

If you still don’t understand - Thank Notre Dame for “punking” real Catholics who actually give a sht about stopping baby killing. Notre Dame can go to h*ll.

[Condor51]

What do you think?

I think I'm confused. (no offense meant)

I downloaded a pdf copy of HR 3200 and searched with Adobe's excellent search function for any reference to 'Abortion', or 'Choice'. And not a single 'hit' came back in any of the 1017 pages to those words.

Now I've seen scores of article like this that keep saying Abortion is in the bill, but they never say where in the Bill it is. For other 'hot button' issues like for the Elderly a section is referenced, but never in articles about abortion.

So like I say, I think I'm confused.

[Salvation]

Do another search.

It’s called ‘family planning’ in the bill.

What cowards they are to not even use the word abortion or Freedom of Choice.

It’s there — trust me.

Go to “Stop the Abortion Mandate.com (I think) to register your name on a petition.

[scory]

They don’t come out against this because the extermination of millions of unborn humans is less important than a promise of “health care” to millions of humans who managed to survive to be born. Abortion kills humans who are rarely if ever seen and never heard. So it is much easier to ignore those people than it is those against whom the “right” to abortion has not been exercised and who are able (and inclined) to complain about their lot in life.

[Salvation]

I understand what you are saying about Notre Dame. We all railed against it here on FR.

This one is about Obamacare. And if we don’t voice our views to the bishops, then we all need to contact our senators and representative to voice our views.

Those elected officials aren’t there to do what THEY want, but what WE, their consituents want.

[Condor51]

It’s called ‘family planning’ in the bill.

ah-ha! I'll search again, thanks.

[Salvation]

page 425 if I remember correctly.

[Salvation]

Please ping your lists.

[ex-snook]

Why aren’t they speaking out against the mandated abortion in this bill?? Let alone the mandated euthansia espoused in this bill."

What does the bill contain on these two issues? Any source to read?

[Frantzie]

It is about funding the murder of babies in ObamaCare (plus killing granny).

Thanks to Notre Dame’s efforts - Obama will think he owns Catholics. Catholics or any opposition from GOOD Catholics has been marginalized by Notre Dame and the stupid & liberal AMERICAN catholic church. I am sure the Pope did not approve of Notre Dame giving awards to someone who supports about and the worst forms of abortion.

[Salvation]

I’ve received several downloads in emails. Let me see if I can find a link.