Washington D.C., Dec 16, 2009 / 18:45 pm
The U.S. Catholic bishops have again urged senators to place language restricting abortion funding into the health care bill. They noted that senators who voted against the Nelson Amendment voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of the same language in other funding bills passed on Sunday.
In its current form, the health care legislation would authorize federal funding for health plans covering elective abortions “for the first time in history,” the bishops said.
The bishops’ comments came in a Dec. 14 letter from Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The Senate bill, Cardinal DiNardo said, has fallen short of the House version, whose language on abortion funding was “overwhelmingly approved.”