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Reacting to the Catholic Health Association’s endorsement of Senate health reform legislation, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, reiterated in a March 15 statement that the US bishops oppose the legislation under consideration because of its provision for abortion funding and its lack of provision for conscience protection. “The flaws are so fundamental,” he said, “that they vitiate the good that the bill intends to promote.”
“Throughout the discussion on health care over the last year, the bishops have advocated a bipartisan approach to solving our national health care needs,” Cardinal George said. “They have urged that all who are sick, injured or in need receive necessary and appropriate medical assistance, and that no one be deliberately killed through an expansion of federal funding of abortion itself or of insurance plans that cover abortion. These are the provisions of the long standing Hyde amendment, passed annually in every federal bill appropriating funds for health care.”
