RLBishopsStatementonHC

WASHINGTON-The U.S. bishops called on Congress and people in the Catholic
community to make sure promises are kept that new health care legislation will
not expand abortions in the United States.

- He noted concerns about the legislation, including that "the statute forces all
those who choose federally subsidized plans that cover abortion to pay for other
people's abortions with their own funds."

- For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for
reform of our health care system so that all may have access to the care that
recognizes and affirms their human dignity. Christian discipleship means,
"working to ensure that all people have access to what makes them fully human
and fosters their human dignity" (United States Catechism for Adults, page 454).
Included among those elements is the provision of necessary and appropriate
health care.

- Nevertheless, for whatever good this law achieves or intends, we as Catholic
bishops have opposed its passage because there is compelling evidence that it
would expand the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating
abortion and plans that cover abortion. The statute appropriates billions of
dollars in new funding without explicitly prohibiting the use of these funds for
abortion,

- The statute forces all those who choose federally subsidized plans that cover
abortion to pay for other peoples' abortions with their own funds. If this new law
is intended to prevent people from being complicit in the abortions of others, it is
at war with itself.

- The statute is also profoundly flawed because it has failed to include necessary
language to provide essential conscience protections

- As bishops of the Catholic Church, we speak in the name of the Church and for
the Catholic faith itself. The Catholic faith is not a partisan agenda, and we take
this opportunity to recommit ourselves to working for health care which truly and
fully safeguards the life, dignity, conscience and health of all, from the child in the
womb to those in their last days on earth.