Catholic Caritas Christi Withdraws From Pro-Abortion Celticare Health Care Plan
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 29, 2009
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) — After months of intense lobbying from pro-life advocates, Caritas Christi Health Care has withdrawn from the new state health plan Massachusetts state officials awarded it. The plan, a cooperative with Centene Corporation called the Celticare Health Plan of Massachusetts, included abortions.
Because the plan included abortion coverage, the six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston under Caritas Christi would have been making abortion referrals.
Leading pro-life groups in the state had called on Cardinal Sean O’Malley to withdraw Caritas Christi from the CeltiCare partnership.
With pressure from Cardinal O’Malley, Caritas withdrew from the new plan.
"I am happy to share with you the following statement issued this evening by Caritas Christi concerning its decision to withdraw its membership in the CeltiCare Health Plan while continuing its commitment to serve the needs of the poor among us,” he wrote.
CeltiCare was established in May to administer a state funded Commonwealth Care health insurance contract and was scheduled to start on Wednesday.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life was one of the pro-life groups putting pressure on the Archdiocese of Boston to get Caritas to withdraw.
"We maintained our conviction that Cardinal Sean would do the right thing concerning the Caritas Christi arrangements," the group told LifeNews.com in a statement. "He has just announced that Caritas has pulled out of the arrangement with CeltiCare."
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, another group lobbying for the end of the partnership, called Caritas’s withdrawal from the joint venture a "partial victory," saying that "any continued participation by Caritas Christi in Commonwealth Care would obligate Caritas, directly or indirectly, to make abortion referrals."
"Caritas Christi has indicated that a woman seeking an abortion at a Caritas hospital will be sent back to her insurer. For Commonwealth Care members that insurer will be CeltiCare, which will not only procure the abortion but will provide transportation to the abortion facility," the group told LifeNews.com. "Instead of offering compassionate alternatives to abortion, Caritas Christi will still be engaged in a two-step abortion referral."
Related web sites:
Massachusetts Citizens for Life – https://www.masscitizensforlife.org
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