image: american magazine
How large of a role did the American Catholic Church play in the passage of H.R. 3962, ? According to an article in Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave in to anti-abortion Democrats, who refused to jump on board the bill without first striking provisions that included restrictions on abortion which would be acceptable to the Church. Brad Elsworth (D-IN) worked with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide language that would ban insurance companies from receiving federal funding for abortions. Elsworth along with Mike Doyle (D-PA), understood that the Church would not accept the bill in its original form, and insisted upon language that was in concert with the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment which was passed in 1976 - prohibits federal government funded insurance plans from providing abortions.
Pelosi worked with anti-abortion Rep. Bart Stupak who had written an amendment to the bill earlier this year that was similar in scope to the Hyde Amendment. In addition, Pelosi needed Stupak, and the pro-life Democrats who he caucused with, to garner enough votes for passage. The end result, Pelosi understood that the Bill would not pass, unless she abandoned those pro-abortion Democrats who are tied to that one single issue.
Now, the Church is turning its attention to to language in the Senate Bill that includes “anti-family” measures. According to the CAN (Catholic News Agency) there exists concerns over items included in the senate legislation. These groups cite language in the bill that includes rationing for health care for seniors, rise in costs for families, fines and penalties for non-compliance, and encouragement of counseling for assisted suicide, and are portions that will come under close scrutiny. The Senate version will also be closely watched for any provisions that deviate from the House version and its ban on abortion funding.
The executive director of the pro-Obama Catholic Group Catholics Unitedwhich supports the abortion language contained in the DNC party platform, stated:
"the bishops' stamp of approval means that this bill is unambiguously pro-life, and we will vigorously oppose those who suggest otherwise."
That does not however, appear to be the case:
A staff member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) currently working on the Hill to prevent health care from including an abortion mandate, quickly dismissed Korzen's claim. Speaking for background to CNA, the USCCB staff member said that "there is stamp no of approval from the bishops whatsoever. Someone here has been either extremely naive or extremely partisan."
Although it is understood that Catholics control a stunning percentage of the electorate, as a whole, the American Church has remained (as far as one can tell) mainly I the background when it came to affecting legislation and the overall division of Church and State.
It may be suggested that those who are concerned over the “right-wing, conservative, Evangelical” influence on American Government (specifically as regards attacks on candidates, such as former 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Note: the fact that Governor Huckabee was an ordained minister, was always placed in the first paragraph of any article, rather than noting his 10 years as Governor of Arkansas – in order to “sound the alert” of a possible “right wing “Christian Candidate”) had best look to the left should they have concerns over a mixture of church and state that, apparently, is included in every political party.
Then Candidate Mike Huckabee catigated in the Press for being "Christian" - image ruthiekelly.com
As the legislation is now before the Senate, it will remain to be seen how much influence, if any, religious advocacy groups, from either side of the aisle (or both in cases of the American churches), will have on the passage of Health Care Reform. Social issues aside, the cost of the program, at a time when inflation is set to rise (indicators include: a falling dollar and rising oil and gold prices, coupled with high unemployment) and the average working American can ill afford any additional tax burden, or rise in insurance premiums currently held (see Massachusetts at 11% for 2010), should be enough to give those in the Senate pause. History is a decisive judge, and the American electorate has, after all, the greater influence. With pressure from the Catholic Church on social issues (some of which impact on economics), and the growing concern from moderates and independents over costs, it is doubtful the present version will see the light of day.
1 comment:
Seeing Catholic groups supporting the health care plan put forward by the Democrats fits somewhere on the humor scale just behind Conservatives for Obama. If those groups, and the Catholic bishops, for that matter, think abortion will stay off the platter, they are lacking in what was once a highly touted Catholic School education. I can fully understand members of the clergy looking to their hearts, but must it include an overdose of gullibility?
As for the ultimate passage of the health care plan into the law of the land, one can only hope that the politicians do what they do best, and that happens to be looking, before anything else, to survivability. Not that any of them are all that familiar with it, a heavy dose of street smarts might help, also.
One can hope that along the way, common sense will come into the picture, but that would bring us back to the issue of the Church and an abundance of miracles.
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