Catholic League president Bill Donohue questions why abortion is still included in the health care bills before Congress:
Two weeks into the Obama administration, a Gallup poll reported that the president received high marks from the public on most issues. The one glaring exception was abortion: only 35 percent agreed with him on allowing funding of abortions overseas. It was then revealed in another survey that a majority of Americans now consider themselves pro-life. Given this reality, why hasn’t the president asked his party members in Congress to exclude abortion from the health care bills?
The answer, of course, is that this is the most radical pro-abortion administration in American history. The number of former employees of Planned Parenthood, NARAL and Emily’s List is astounding. So extreme is the president and his staff on this issue that they are apparently willing to sink health care reform before ever excluding abortion from the final bill.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which has long been an advocate of universal health care, is so troubled by the prospect of a health care bill that funds abortion that it has pulled its support. On July 17, Bishop William Murphy said it was objectionable to make Americans “pay for the destruction of human life.” On July 29, Justin Cardinal Rigali also urged lawmakers to scratch abortion from these bills. Moreover, the USCCB has a link on its website to an Action Alert written by the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment titled, “Support Health Care Reform That Respects Life.”
The White House now has a “Reality Check” section on its website that seeks to debunk what it says are myths about the health care bills. Videos on the following subjects are available: rationing, euthanasia, veterans’ care, small business, Medicare and private insurance plans. Noticeably absent is any attempt to say that abortion is not included in these bills. There’s a reason for that—every time an amendment has been introduced to formally exclude abortion, it has been defeated.
