Catholic Bishops Give Thumbs Down to Senate Abortion Funding Compromise

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 18, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Catholic Bishops Give Thumbs Down to Senate Abortion Funding Compromise

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 18
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The nation’s Catholic bishops are giving a thumbs down to the proposed abortion funding compromise put forward by Sen. Bob Casey. They joined the National Right to Life committee and other pro-life groups that have said the compromise still leaves significant abortion funding intact.

Responding to the Casey language, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo today reaffirmed the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained that the legislation will be morally unacceptable “unless and until” it complies with longstanding current laws on abortion funding such as the Hyde amendment.

“Senator Casey’s good-faith effort to allow individuals to ‘opt out’ of abortion coverage actually underscores how radically the underlying Senate bill would change abortion policy," Cardinal DiNardo said.

"Excluding elective abortions from overall health plans is not a privilege that individuals should have to seek as the exception to the norm. In all other federal health programs, excluding abortion coverage is the norm. And numerous opinion polls show that the great majority of Americans do not want abortion coverage," he added.

DiNardo said Casey has sought to improve protection for conscience rights, and to include programs of support for pregnant women and adoptive parents that we favor in their own right.

"However, these improvements do not change the fundamental problem with the Senate bill: Despite repeated claims to the contrary, it does not comply with longstanding Hyde restrictions on federal funding of elective abortions and health plans that include them," he added.

Cardinal DiNardo is Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and Chairman of the
Conference’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The statement from the Catholic bishops comes on the same day as the National Right to Life Committee sent Casey its own letter saying the compromise merely keeps abortion funding.

Related web sites:
USCCB statement – https://www.LifeNews.com/USCCBletterAgainstCaseyLanguage.pdf

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