Act Now to Keep Abortion Out of Health Care Reform
In the intense controversy over health care reform, the mainstream media have kept the focus on economic disputes and mostly ignored pro-life concerns about the issue of tax-funded abortion coverage. This has only deepened the resolve of pro-lifers to develop their own alternative means of communication (options for pro-lifers in the Diocese of La Crosse will be given at the end of this article).
On Thursday, July 23, approximately 70 pro-life organizations hosted a live webcast to mobilize Americans to protest the health care reform package proposed by President Barack Obama. The webcast was viewed by 36,000 people. Brief presentations were given by nineteen pro-life experts. In case you missed it, you can listen to the webcast here. http://www.wrtl.org/audio/
E. Christian Brugger, of the Culture of Life Foundation, said that the main problem with the health care package is not what it says, but what it doesn’t say.
"Abortion is presently not mentioned in the bill. The bill does not specify what will and will not be covered," he noted. Brugger explained that the bill mandates that a "health care advisory committee" will have the authority to define the "essential benefits of coverage"—in other words, what will be covered by taxpayer funds.
The problem is that this committee will not be elected, but will be appointed by the Obama administration. And the person most likely to lead the appointment process is Obama’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, the former governor of Kansas who was notorious for vetoing any pro-life legislation that arrived on her desk.
"Obama and Sebelius will be certain to appoint an advisory committee that supports abortion coverage in universal health care," said Brugger. "Therefore, federally funded abortion will almost certainly become a mandated form of 'essential health care' if the bill passes in its present form. Every taxpayer will be forced to fund abortions. Presently enacted restrictions on abortion at the state level will be overridden. Hospitals and providers will be coerced into cooperating with abortions. FOCA [the Freedom of Choice Act] won't need to be passed because its cornerstones will be included in our nationalized health care."
The solid consensus among pro-life leaders is that the only way abortion will not wind up being covered through health care reform is if the legislation is worded to explicitly exclude it from coverage. This is what we must insist on as we contact our legislators.
The webcast organizers suggested several avenues for opposing the bill. They first of all recommended prayer, along with spreading the word through email and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
They also encouraged listeners to contact legislators by email or mail, and to phone their Washington offices.
In the Diocese of La Crosse, the Office of Ministries and Social Concerns has worked with pastors to establish a large network of Parish Pro-Life Coordinators (I'm one) who receive and distribute pertinent emails and action alerts to their own sub-networks of parishioners and others(if your reading this your one). There is a secondary diocesan pro-life network as well, composed of anyone interested in receiving alerts. If you would like to be included in that network, please email cruff@dioceseoflacrosse.com. Also be sure to visit the home page of the diocesan website (http://www.dioceseoflacrosse.com/) and click on “Pro-Life Resources, Alerts and Action Steps.”
