Orlando, Fla., Nov 25, 2009 / 06:51 am
The U.S. Senate must ensure that health care legislation remains “abortion neutral” by adding a Stupak Amendment to the proposed bill, Bishop of Orlando, Florida Thomas G. Wenski has said. Health care reform is too important to be “hijacked” by “destructive agendas” like government-mandated abortion.
Bishop Wenski, writing in a Nov. 20 column for the Orlando Sentinel, said that Catholic bishops have supported health care for years. “Access to health care is a human right,” he said.
The bishops also recognize the “sad reality” that abortion is legal and offered as optional coverage by insurers, he wrote.
“However, we insist that health-care-reform legislation under consideration does not become a vehicle for government-required payments for abortion or abortion mandates.”