{"id":1025,"date":"2009-09-14T11:20:59","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T11:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/09\/breakthrough-on-abortion.html"},"modified":"2009-09-14T11:20:59","modified_gmt":"2009-09-14T11:20:59","slug":"breakthrough-on-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/09\/breakthrough-on-abortion.html","title":{"rendered":"Breakthrough on Abortion and Health Care — The Bishops Diverge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are the Catholic Bishops splitting from the rest of the pro-life movement on health care and abortion?
\nThe Bishops have always been in a different category from most of the pro-life or religious conservative groups in this sense: but for the abortion issue, they want to support health care reform. So far, though, their concerns about how abortion has been dealt with in House legislation has kept them pretty much in line with the rest of the pro-life groups, opposing health care reform in general\u0010.
\nIt was significant, then, that the Bishops responded warmly to President Obama’s speech: <\/a><\/p>\n

“We especially welcome the President’s commitment to exclude federal funding of abortion, and to maintain existing federal laws protecting conscience rights in health care,” said Richard Doerflinger, Associate Director of Pro-Life Activities at the USCC”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius noted the Bishops’ statement on George Stephanopoulos’ show Sunday<\/a> and added the White House would go farther than the House legislation in making sure the federal government doesn’t subsidize abortion.
\nContrast the Bishops’ encouraged tone with that of the National Right to Life Committee which declared that Obama’s and Sebelius’s statements “are most likely a continuation of their strategy of denial, evasion and distortion.”
\nI have no doubt that the Bishops will be watching carefully too and will bolt again if they become concerned that legislation is too pro-choice. But from a political perspective, the fact that some light has now developed between the Bishops and other pro-life groups may prove to be a hugely significant political development.
\nSupport from the Bishops will make it more likely that pro-life Democrats can support the bill and undercut conservative arguments that health care funds abortions. Democrats would have a rejoinder far simpler than having to walk through bookkeeping schemes and legal language: “Even the Catholic Bishops believe this doesn’t fund abortion.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are the Catholic Bishops splitting from the rest of the pro-life movement on health care and abortion? The Bishops have always been in a different category from most of the pro-life or religious conservative groups in this sense: but for the abortion issue, they want to support health care reform. So far, though, their concerns…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBreakthrough on Abortion and Health Care - The Bishops Diverge? - Steven Waldman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/09\/breakthrough-on-abortion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breakthrough on Abortion and Health Care - The Bishops Diverge? - Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are the Catholic Bishops splitting from the rest of the pro-life movement on health care and abortion? 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