Washington D.C., Nov 7, 2009 / 13:49 pm
Today the U.S. bishops sent a letter, signed by Cardinal Justin Rigali, to the House of Representatives urging members to vote for the Stupak-Ellsworth Amendment to the health care reform.
The letter, made available by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) asked congress members to vote for the Stupak-Ellsworth Amendment to "keep in place current federal law on abortion funding and conscience protections in the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962)."
"Despite some claims to the contrary," they wrote, "H.R. 3962 does not reflect the status quo on abortion. It fails to explicitly and clearly include the longstanding policy prohibiting federal funding of elective abortion and plans which include elective abortion (Hyde Amendment)."
The bishops acknowledged that H.R. 3962 "has some helpful provisions on conscience protection and non- preemption of state laws," however it "fails to maintain current prohibitions on abortion mandates and abortion funding. Instead it creates elaborate measures requiring people to pay for other people’s abortions with their taxes, private premiums or federal subsidies."