Catholic nuns are urging Congress to pass President Barack Obama's health care plan, in an unusual public break with bishops who say it would subsidize abortion. Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate health care bill. It contains restrictions on abortion funding that the bishops say don't go far enough.
The letter says that "despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions." The letter says the legislation also will help support pregnant women and "this is the real pro-life stance."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Right to Life Committee have denounced the bill as a backdoor subsidy for abortion. But the nuns and the Catholic Health Association — representing some 600 hospitals — say restrictions in the Senate bill would still prevent taxpayer funding for abortion, although the legal mechanism for doing so is different from what the bishops prefer.
"This is politics; this isn't a question of faith and morals," said Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a national Catholic social activism lobby. "We are the ones who work every day with people who are suffering because they don't have health care. We cannot turn our backs on them, so for us, health care reform is a faith-based response to human need."
The test of the letter, on the website of Network, is below:
Dear Members of Congress:
We write to urge you to cast a life-affirming “yes” vote when the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3590) comes to the floor of the House for a vote as early as this week. We join the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), which represents 1,200 Catholic sponsors, systems, facilities and related organizations, in saying: the time is now for health reform AND the Senate bill is a good way forward.
As the heads of major Catholic women’s religious order in the United States, we represent 59,000 Catholic Sisters in the United States who respond to needs of people in many ways. Among our other ministries we are responsible for running many of our nation’s hospital systems as well as free clinics throughout the country.
We have witnessed firsthand the impact of our national health care crisis, particularly its impact on women, children and people who are poor. We see the toll on families who have delayed seeking care due to a lack of health insurance coverage or lack of funds with which to pay high deductibles and co-pays. We have counseled and prayed with men, women and children who have been denied health care coverage by insurance companies. We have witnessed early and avoidable deaths because of delayed medical treatment.
The health care bill that has been passed by the Senate and that will be voted on by the House will expand coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans. While it is an imperfect measure, it is a crucial next step in realizing health care for all. It will invest in preventative care. It will bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. It will make crucial investments in community health centers that largely serve poor women and children. And despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions. It will uphold longstanding conscience protections and it will make historic new investments – $250 million – in support of pregnant women. This is the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it.
Congress must act. We are asking every member of our community to contact their congressional representatives this week. In this Lenten time, we have launched nationwide prayer vigils for health care reform. We are praying for those who currently lack health care. We are praying for the nearly 45,000 who will lose their lives this year if Congress fails to act. We are also praying for you and your fellow Members of Congress as you complete your work in the coming days. For us, this health care reform is a faith mandate for life and dignity of all of our people.
We urge you to vote “yes” for life by voting yes for health care reform in H.R. 3590.
James Martin, SJ
Women Health
Do the bishops have a hidden talking points website?
A "deal with the devil"? "Rash and ill advised"? I don't see evidence of this, but please share it if you know of any.
Who is in charge here? Who speaks for the Catholic church? The self-appointed nuns or the Bishops? The church has been fighting abortion for 38 years. Why should we now walk away when we have the ability to prevent the federal funding of abortions?
The nuns statements are wrong. The senate bill does indead allow abortions. If the senate bill becomes law, abortions will be expanded as never before. This is not health care.
The nuns would have us make a deal with the devil. Their judgement of health care now no matter what is rash and ill advised. The nuns have done the church harm.
The nuns are presenting a different voice than the bishops. Their obvious motivation is to be a voice for the poor women, men and children who are most affected by the lack of health care. Maybe the bishops are hoping that by maintaining a hard stand they will get abortion taken out of the bill. The nuns must feel a strong calling of conscious to take an opposite stand for the bill. Like any relationship where there is struggle and disagreement we don't get anywhere if there is a lack of respect. I think the nun's statement should be heard with respect. They should have the freedom to present a different view. For the church to become more balanced it needs to start taking these women's views seriously. Maybe if the nuns called to leadership were allowed to participate in church positions and decisions, letters like this one would not need to be written. These nuns have given their life in service of the church too.
Dionne article sums up the problem nicely in his praise of the nun's actions: ''Fortunately, major Catholic leaders - most of them women in religious orders - have picked up flag of social justice discarded by a bishops' conference under increasing right-wing influence.''
The nuns are precived in this article as ''major Catholic leaders''. The nuns' ''social justice'' morality and dismissiveness of the hazard of funding abortion is superior to the Bishops' judgement.
Dionne's article documents a church divided by "social justice" politics.