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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Catholic Bishops urge a fight over the Freedom of Choice Act

HT to Captain Ed

Catholic bishops are urging Republicans to fight against any attempt the incoming Obama administration might mount in passing the Freedom of Choice Act. The act, as it's explained, would rollback all state regulations on abortions, kill any restrictions on the books, reinstate partial-birth abortion, and provide taxpayer funded abortions on demand.

Catholic bishops aren't pleased with the idea, and they want people to oppose this radical move:

Meeting on the second day of their annual conference, the nation's Catholic bishops urged an aggressive campaign to oppose the pro-abortion bill expected to be the centerpiece of the Barack Obama administration. They also mentioned concerns about Catholic hospitals being forced to do abortions.

The FOCA bill, known as the Freedom of Choice Act, is the number one goal of abortion advocates, who feel emboldened by Obama's election.

It would not only make unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy a national law but it would overturn the laws in all 50 states designed to reduce abortions.

During the meeting, the bishops appeared united in their call for an aggressive campaign to defeat the measure in Congress or to take it to court if it becomes law.

Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco urged his colleagues to oppose FOCA “early and often, both with members of Congress and with the new administration.”

At the end of the discussion, the bishops voted to authorize Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, the president of the national conference of bishops, to release another strong statement against the bill as the USCCB has done already.

The statement included talking points saying that the Catholic bishops were willing to work with Obama on common issues like the economy, immigration and health care, but ready to strenuously oppose any efforts to expand abortions further.

“The church is also resolute in opposing evil,” and the bishops are “completely united and resolute in our teaching and defense of the unborn child from the moment of conception.”

The bishops also expressed concern about FOCA because it could overturn protections for Catholic hospitals that don't want to do abortions.

Some of the bishops, during the discussion, went as far as saying the Catholic Church should be willing to close some health facilities rather them allow them to be subject to a mandate to do abortions from the Obama administration.

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago spoke up about the threats to Catholic health care under the bill.

“It could mean discontinuing obstetrics in our hospitals, and we may need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our Catholic hospitals entirely,” Paprocki said. “It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions. That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil.”

They're willing to compromise on some issues, but abortion isn't one of them. Now before I continue I want to stress to readers that we are well aware of the fact that abortion is a touchy subject for many. But we also know that it won't be outlawed by the Congress or state legislatures until the Supreme Court comes to it's senses and overturns Roe v. Wade. (Before we start getting e-mails from pro-choice people, stop. Overturning it puts it back in the hands of the states, and it isn't likely that it'll be banned anywhere. However states would be able to put restrictions in place as their voters/legislatures see fit.)

But the more concerning point of this is the Catholic hospitals that would be shut down. Why is that a big deal? I'll let Captain Ed explain:

What kind of impact would that have? The Catholic Church is one of the nation’s biggest health-care providers. In 2007, they ran 557 hospitals that serviced over 83 million patients. The church also had 417 clinics that saw over seven million patients. If they shut down almost a thousand hospitals and clinics nationwide, the US would not just lose a significant portion of available health care, but the poor and working-class families that received the health care would have fewer options.

Also, the Catholic Church runs this on a non-profit basis, spending vast sums of its money to ensure access for those unable to pay. That’s the kind of model that many on the Left believe should exclusively provide health care — and FOCA would spell the end of the major provider already in that model.

Losing the hospitals would hurt those that can't afford health care plans, and can't afford to go to a regular hospital. Catholic hospitals aren't like the ones that are provided fro those on welfare. They have some of the best doctors on staff to treat people that need serious help as well as those that need regular, average care.

Of course this is the plan, we believe, from Obama. He can't have his national health care with the Catholic Church standing in the way. His nationalized health care plan would embrace abortions paid for by us. Getting the Church out of the way is just one step that Obama would welcome.

The bishops are right, though. We do need to take a stand against this radical bill. While the majority of people in the nation understand abortion is here and legal, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. But the expansion of abortion as Obama wants it would be devastating to the nation in more ways than one or two. By encouraging it, and removing all restrictions, we can expect to see a serious uptick in this brutal and sickening practice. If the Freedom of Choice Act is passed, groups like the Catholic Church and pro-life groups won't be able to counsel women on an alternative to abortion. It'll be illegal. The Catholic Church has been pro-life since it's inception, regardless of what Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi says. It's their key issue. We can't afford to have this bill get passed, nor can we afford to watch the Church close down hundreds of hospitals to avoid being turned into abortion factories.

Publius II

1 Comments:

Blogger knowitall said...

The church's stood behind the liberal illuminati, and their views were not the same of the church, and I am shocked and disappointed.

November 17, 2008 at 6:25 PM  

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