President-elect Barack Obama has been documented as saying that one of the first things he will do as president is enact the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). Catholic Bishops have chosen to take a strong stand against enacting this legislation.
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.”
Consider that thought....that they would prefer to shut the hospitals down entirely rather than have abortions provided by themselves OR new owners. WOW.
Just how serious is this threat? As noted by Ed Morrissey at Hotair.com, should Catholic hospitals and clinics be shut down, almost a thousand medical providers would be closed.
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.
As a Protestant, I am highly impressed by the stand the American Catholic Bishops are taking. I'll be watching the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian hospitals as well, to see if any of them will take similar stands.
-Colonel Steve
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