Washington D.C., Aug 12, 2009 / 16:28 pm
While expressing support for some kind of health care reform, Cardinal Justin Rigali, the chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat on Pro-Life Activities, says the present reform proposal is “seriously deficient” because it bypasses restrictions on the federal funding of abortion and allows federal officials to make unlimited abortion a mandated benefit.
Writing in an August 11 letter to each member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Cardinal Rigali noted that the U.S. Catholic bishops view health care as a basic human right. They have long supported health care reform that “respects human life and dignity from conception to natural death” and provides access to quality health care for all, especially immigrants and the poor.
Cardinal Rigali said his present letter concerned the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200) and related legislation, emphasizing that respect for human life and the rights of conscience is a “fundamental requirement.”
“Much-needed reform must not become a vehicle for promoting an ‘abortion rights’ agenda or reversing longstanding policies against federal funding and mandated coverage of abortion,” the cardinal wrote, echoing his July 29 letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“In this sense we urge you to make this legislation ‘abortion neutral,’ by preserving longstanding federal policies that prevent government promotion of abortion and respect conscience rights.”