Fake Catholic Groups Resurface in Health Care-Abortion Funding Debate

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 11, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Fake Catholic Groups Resurface in Health Care-Abortion Funding Debate

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 11
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — They led the way in confusing Catholic voters about the pro-abortion record and views of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Now the fake Catholic groups that claim to be pro-life but advance the pro-abortion agenda are back — this time in the national debate over health care and abortion funding.

Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good proved that adding "Catholic" to the name of an organization could get one media attention — and condemnation from pro-life Catholics who knew better.

The two groups went as far as passing out literature at churches that obfuscated Obama’s pro-abortion views.

And in new interviews with the Christian Science Monitor today, they are hoping to water down the concerns over the massive government expansion of abortion under the auspices of the health care bill.

In a story that will likely confuse Catholics even further, the CSM gave the groups a platform to make their case that health care trumps the taxpayer funded death and destruction of perhaps hundreds of thousands of unborn children a year under the health care bill.

"For months, bishops have made their guidance plain: If the final bill weakens a ban on public funding for abortion, then Catholics should oppose it. But they are finding many of their antiabortion adherents willing to embrace what they see as a greater good – improving access to healthcare – even if it undercuts the church’s stand against abortion," CSM writes.

Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, which CSM put at a membership of 50,000, told the newspaper that Catholics should have "open minds" on forcing Americans to fund abortions.

“The wrong thing would be for anyone to be so firmly entrenched in their positions on federal funding of abortion that they’re not willing to come to the table and talk about a compromise," he said.

Victoria Kovari, interim president of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which CSM claims has 45,000 members, claimed her group "share[s] all the bishops’ concerns."

“The difference is [our] feeling that we would be morally remiss if we walked away from all of healthcare [reform]. We have to take seriously our call to be about what’s good for the whole human family," she said.

The bishops have stood up for the part of the family Kovari is leaving out — the babies who have few advocates of their own in Congress, as evidenced by the Senate’s vote to okay massive abortion funding.

President Francis Cardinal George spoke plainly in response to the defeat of the Nelson-Hatch amendment.

"Failure to exclude abortion funding will turn allies into adversaries and require us and others to oppose this bill because it abandons both principle and precedent," he said.

Deal Hudson, in a column he wrote this week, minced no words either.

"Abortion funding is not the only thing wrong with the health care bill, but it is the worst thing, and I admire Cardinal George for his forthright manner in warning Congress," he said.

He called on the Catholic bishops to use the full extent of their "political muscle" by "pull[ing] out all the stops with their parish inserts" to educate Catholic voters about the abortion-health care problems.

"Most Catholics are justly proud of their bishops for taking a firm stand on the non-negotiable teaching of protecting innocent life," he said.

The question in the coming weeks will be how hard the bishops will press back against these so-called Catholic groups that are clearly watering down the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church and the admonitions the bishops are presenting to members of Congress to respect life.

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