Open Letter to Catholics and Catholic Organizations on Health Care Reform from Catholic Medical Association

The Catholic Medical Association has just released a letter on health care reform.You can read the complete text here.

The Truth About Health Care Bills

The following was written by Michael Connelly, a retired attorney. "...is now a teacher, published author, and freelance writer. As a former Military Intelligence officer in the U.S. Army he is an avid student of American history including all aspects of military history."

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

Read the rest here

Read more about the proposed Obama Health Reform over at Michael Connelly's blog

Niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wants abortion taken out of health care reform bill

DENVILLE, NJ (September 20, 2009) - On September 18, 2009, Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke on behalf of the pro-life movement at Saint Cecilia's Church, located in Rockaway, NJ. Congressman Chris Smith (R-4th District) of New Jersey, joined Dr. Alveda King in championing the cause for life at the Catholic church with a presentation that included video of the civil rights era and made a comparison to the civil rights of the unborn.

Dr. Alveda King is advocating to prevent abortion from being included in health care reform on a federal level. Dr. Alveda King is also a Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and Coordinator of the African-American Outreach.

Dr. Alveda King said, “We are living in turbulent times, but in the midst of these times, there is always hope and promise.” Dr. King is encouraged in helping to make a difference with her cause in support of civil rights for the unborn. She believes in working to achieve bipartisan support on the issue.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,

And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.

I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,

Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the Resurrection of Your Son.

I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.

Today I commit myself

Never to be silent,

Never to be passive,

Never to be forgetful of the unborn.

I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,

And never to stop defending life

Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,

And our nation once again becomes

A nation with liberty and justice

Not just for some, but for all,

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen!

Prayer by Father Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Another Bishop rejects Obamacare

“May all those engaged in this issue craft a plan that provides universal health care that is affordable to all, distributes costs equitably, and above all, safeguards human life from conception to natural death and the freedom of conscience.”

~ Bishop James V. Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, writing on health care reform

Read the full story Health care reform must recognize dignity of every person, Missouri bishop says at CNA.

A Growth Vision for Health Reform

By NEWT GINGRICH

A 3-year-old boy was recently diagnosed with a rare, aggressive, soft-tissue cancer in his bladder. Radiation treatment would have stunted the growth of his pelvic bones, hips and bladder and left him disabled. Radical surgery could remove his bladder, prostate and portions of his rectum. That would have left him impotent, using a colostomy bag, and urinating through another bag in his abdomen.

His parents chose a third option—a new "unproven" therapy where a proton beam precisely targeted the radiation dose so that it didn't cripple their son for life. The boy is now cancer-free and his body functions normally.

This story would seem to be an example of our health-care system at its best. But it is incompatible with the left's vision for overhauling the health-care industry.

Despite all the well-documented problems with our health-care system, the United States is still the world's leading source of medical innovation. Since 1960, the U.S. age-adjusted death rate for heart disease has declined by 54% due to advancing technology and new drugs. Pacemakers have been transformed. They once required a user to wear a backpack to monitor the device's short battery life. Today, pacemaker batteries last more than seven years and are small enough to install in the rib-cage muscle wall.

Premature babies survive in America to live full lives more often than anywhere else in the world. New drugs now arriving on the market cure once-lethal leukemia. On the horizon there are vaccines to prevent other types of cancer. Modern science and technology offer even more exciting treatments in the future for diseases like AIDS, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Standing in opposition to this world of hope is the vision of reform advanced by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. That vision would destroy the economic incentives that drive health-care innovation because it starts with a fundamental conceit: that government planners can spend health-care dollars better than patients and doctors in the marketplace. This planning is the foundation for the arbitrary insistence that spending 17% of our GDP on health care is "too much."

The new bureaucracies that would be set up to reduce health-care spending by slashing payments to doctors, hospitals, surgeons, specialists, drug companies, high-tech equipment makers and others will kill the innovation that has served us so well. The essential incentives for the huge capital investment necessary to develop breakthrough treatments will be gone. And so too will high-paying jobs that these investments create.
Indeed, the plan released by Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) last week would impose new taxes on medical device manufacturers of $40 billion over 10 years. That's more than industry venture capital investment.

Click here to read the rest.

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Ask Senators to vote Yes on Hatch Amendment to fund abstinence education

Senator Hatch (R-UT) has introduced an amendment into the Senate health care reform bill to reinstate Title V Abstinence Education funding for FY2010. This amendment will be offered this week in the Senate Finance Committee. (The vote could be as early as Tuesday of this week)

Background

Title V state block grants for abstinence education expired June 30, 2009. Since then, 2 actions in the House have been taken related to this funding:

1. Rep. Lee Terry introduced an amendment in the House to reinstate Title V Abstinence Education Funding. It failed by only 3 votes in anti-abstinence Waxman's Energy & Commerce Committee earlier this year.

2. An amendment was successfully inserted in the House health care reform bill to transfer former Title V funds to "comprehensive" sex education block grants to states.


Recent research analysis demonstrates that school based abstinence education is more successful in positive behavior change than so-called "comprehensive" sex education.


Action Item
•Call your Senators immediately. Ask them to vote "yes" on the Hatch Amendment if they serve on the Finance Committee. Ask them to urge their colleagues to do the same.


• Make a personal call to your friends and colleagues asking them to immediately call their Senators as well if they serve on the Senate Finance Committee

The United States Capitol switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly to your Senators' Offices.

Continue to encourage unique calls to your Senators until the Senate vote is taken.

What to Say To Your Congressional Member

I am calling to urge Senator [name] to stand with youth in our state by voting "yes" on Senator Hatch's amendment to continue Title V abstinence education funding to states. This amendment will be offered as a part of the Senate health care reform bill. Abstinence alleviates millions of dollars in health care costs related to teen sexual activity. Can we count on Senator [name] support of the Hatch Abstinence Education amendment? Thank you.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee

Democrats
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ

THOMAS CARPER, DE


Republicans
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TX

~ Via Pam Stenzel.

Christian health professionals address 'right of conscience'

The Christian Medical Association has sent a wake-up call to Washington. The communication is the result of a petition signed by over 10,000 individuals.

David Stevens, president of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, explains the objective of the petition.

"Well, we just sent a letter to President Obama as well as to members of Congress expressing concern over right of conscience and the fact that it's not protected in any of the [healthcare reform] legislation that's been proposed," he says. "In fact, there are direct attacks on right of conscience, which would force healthcare providers to participate in abortions as well as other procedures."

Read the rest here.