Denver, Colo., Nov 2, 2009 / 14:48 pm
Saying that no present proposals for health care reform adequately restrict federal funding for abortions, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has called on President Obama to fulfill his past promise for such restrictions. Criticizing “confusing political doubletalk” about the issue, he said that Catholics need to “vigorously oppose” the bills in their present form.
Writing in his Nov. 4 column for the Denver Catholic Register, Archbishop Chaput noted President Obama’s promise, voiced in an address to Congress on Sept. 9, that “his” health care plan would not provide public monies for abortion.
Though the president is solidly dedicated to preserving federal protections for legalized abortion, the Archbishop of Denver suggested that this gives him political space to compromise.
“Excluding abortion funding from the president's health-care efforts – I mean really excluding it and not sneaking it in under the cover of some bureaucratic shell game – would be an easy concession for Congress and the White House to make. It's a modest price to pay for Catholic and similar prolife support, or at least their neutrality. It might also put some meat on the bones of Washington's talk about “'common ground,'” the archbishop wrote.