Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on tonight’s speech by President Obama on health care reform:
Will President Obama mention abortion tonight? Not a chance. Abortion is perhaps the most divisive moral issue in America, and because the president wants to force the taxpayers to pay for abortion (it would be covered in the public plan), he is not going to go near it. The manly thing to do would be to address it head-on.
No segment of American society has been more supportive of universal health care than the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Moreover, this isn’t something new: the bishops have a long-standing commitment to health care reform. Their support, then, for the very bills endorsed by the president should be a slam dunk. Just the opposite is true—they’ve walked away from the table. All because of abortion.
The rational thing to do would be to drop abortion from the health care bills and support conscience rights for health care workers. Then the bishops would come back to the table. The president could take the opportunity tonight to do so. But he won’t. He won’t because he is inextricably tied to the most radical segments of the abortion industry. If I am wrong, I will be glad to say so tomorrow.
