The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced its opposition to the healthcare legislation to be considered by the House – a move that puts it odds not only with the Democratic majority, but with a group representing the nation's Catholic hospitals.
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, the president of the conference, said Monday that bishops could not support the bill approved by the Senate in December because it omits the long-accepted ban on using federal dollars for abortion known as the Hyde Amendment.
"The American people and the Catholic bishops have been promised that, in any final bill, no federal funds would be used for abortion and that the legal status quo would be respected," George said in a statement.
"However, the bishops were left disappointed and puzzled to learn that the basis for any vote on health care will be the Senate bill passed on Christmas Eve. Notwithstanding the denials and explanations of its supporters, and unlike the bill approved by the House of Representatives in November, the Senate bill deliberately excludes the language of the Hyde amendment. It expands federal funding and the role of the federal government in the provision of abortion procedures. In so doing, it forces all of us to become involved in an act that profoundly violates the conscience of many, the deliberate destruction of unwanted members of the human family still waiting to be born.
"What do the bishops find so deeply disturbing about the Senate bill? The points at issue can be summarized briefly. The status quo in federal abortion policy, as reflected in the Hyde Amendment, excludes abortion from all health insurance plans receiving federal subsidies. In the Senate bill, there is the provision that only one of the proposed multi-state plans will not cover elective abortions – all other plans (including other multi-state plans) can do so, and receive federal tax credits. This means that individuals or families in complex medical circumstances will likely be forced to choose and contribute to an insurance plan that funds abortions in order to meet their particular health needs."
George's statement comes days after the Catholic Health Association announced its support for the bill.
Chief executive Carol Keehan wrote on the group's Web site last week that although the legislation isn't perfect, it represents a "major first step" toward covering all Americans and would make "great improvements" for millions of people.
Keehan told the Associated Press that she believes the approach now in the bill would work just as well as the Hyde amendment to keep federal dollars from being used to pay for abortion.
"On the moral issue of abortion, there is no disagreement," she said. "On the technical issue of whether this bill prevents federal funding of abortions, we differ with Right to Life."