President Obama has launched a major effort to reform the nation’s health care system. Clearly there is a great need in the United States to reform the nation’s health care system. Millions of Americans remain uninsured as increasing costs create great challenges for the working poor, the unemployed and many living on the margins of our society.
The United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has long called for a health care reform effort that offers accessible, affordable and quality health care which protects and respects the life and dignity of all people from conception until natural death.
The Catholic bishops of the United States have long been a consistent voice calling for comprehensive health care reform that leads to health care for all, including the weakest and most vulnerable. In his recent letter to the members of Congress, Bishop William Murphy weighed in on the health care debate and noted that: “The Catholic Church provides health care, purchases health care and picks up the pieces of a failing health care system. Health care is a critical component of the Catholic Church’s ministry. The Catholic community encounters and serves the sick and uninsured in our emergency rooms, shelters and on the doorsteps of our parishes. One out of six patients is cared for in Catholic hospitals. We bring both strong convictions and everyday experience to the issue of health care.”
One of these strong convictions is the belief that health care is intrinsic to human life and dignity. The proposed plan of reform offered by the Obama administration is unacceptable as it includes public funding of abortion. President Obama seems to have forgotten his recent words to Pope Benedict XVI when he stated he wanted to reduce abortions in the United States. The Obama health care reform plan would compel taxpayers to pay for the destruction of human life, whether through government funding or mandatory coverage of abortion. This clearly is not a way to reduce abortion, but rather a betrayal of the president’s pledge to the Holy Father. By insisting that any health care reform finance abortion the Obama administration is attacking not only the innocent human life of the unborn but also violating the conscience of every person who opposes the destruction of human life that is abortion.
Genuine health care reform is a most important national priority and we support efforts of reform which will provide affordable and accessible care for all Americans, both rich and poor.
However, the moral imperative to provide health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all is being pushed aside by the Chicago-style politics of the Obama administration. Their insistence that abortion funding be part of health care reform package should be cause of grave concern for Catholics and indeed all Americans. The much-needed reform of the nation’s health care system must not be undermined by abandoning longstanding and widely-supported policies against abortion funding in favor of conscience protection. Medicine without morality is not the proper prescription for reforming health care in our nation and we urge “Doctor” Obama to find another cure for reform.
