Washington D.C., Jul 22, 2008 / 02:28 am
Cardinal Justin Rigali has written a letter to all members of the U.S. Congress defending conscience protections for pro-life health care workers. According to the cardinal, due to a lack of executive action some institutions may be violating conscience protection laws “without even knowing it.”
Cardinal Rigali, who is Archbishop of Philadelphia and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, wrote the July 18 letter in response to a New York Times article about a draft proposal requiring that any program run or funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must certify that it will not refuse to hire nurses and other healthcare workers who object to abortion and abortifacient contraceptives.
News of the proposal prompted criticism from abortion rights supporters. On Friday Sen. Hillary Clinton said the draft was a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult" to women.
While noting that he was not specifically responding to the reported proposal, Cardinal Rigali said some of the proposal’s critics had made “sweeping” charges that did not acknowledge the legal tradition of freedom of conscience in health care. He said legal conscience protections in health care are not new, having been in force since at least the 1973 “Church amendment.”