Could
By Tim
Townsend
03/06/2009
The proposed legislation would force all doctors nurses and hospitals to perform abortions and other
things that are clearly evil in the word of God. It will only be a matter of time until Euthanasia
and other evil things will be added to the list of things that Liberal,
atheist, and secular humanist senators and congressmen will force doctors and
nurses to do. Doctors and Nurses are also salt in this nation.
A proposed
bill promising major changes in the U.S. abortion landscape has Roman Catholic
bishops threatening to close Catholic hospitals if the Democratic Congress and
White House make it law.
The Freedom of Choice Act failed to get out of subcommittee
in 2004, but its sponsor is poised to refile it now
that former Senate co-sponsor Barack Obama occupies
the Oval Office.
A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the legislation "is
among the congressman's priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather
than later."
FOCA, as the bill is known, would make federal law out of the abortion
protections established in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade ruling.ccc
The legislation has some Roman
Catholic bishops threatening to shutter the country's 624 Catholic hospitals —
including 11 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis — rather than comply.
Speaking in
But even
within the Catholic community, there is disagreement about the effects FOCA
might have on hospitals, with some health care professionals and bishops saying
a strategy of ignoring the law, if it passes, would be more effective than
closing hospitals.
Ilan Kayatsky, Nadler's
spokesman, said he anticipates that the bill's other original sponsor, Sen.
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will introduce FOCA in the
U.S. Senate. "We expect it to be more or less the same bill with some
minor tweaks," Kayatsky said.
Boxer's office declined to comment.
Rep. William Lacy Clay, a Roman Catholic, and Rep. Russ Carnahan — both St.
Louis Democrats — were co-sponsors of the legislation. Neither
responded to requests for an interview. Bishop Robert Hermann, acting
head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, was unavailable for comment.
In its
last incarnation, FOCA defined abortion as a "fundamental right" that
no government can "deny" or "interfere with." That
language, FOCA's opponents warn, would help overturn
abortion restrictions such as parental notification, laws banning certain
procedures and constraints on federal funding.
Some abortion rights groups say a friendlier Congress and White House makes
FOCA less of a priority for them, and they say religious conservatives who
oppose abortion rights are using FOCA as a scare tactic.
"Anti-choice groups know that there are not enough votes to move the
Freedom of Choice Act, yet they continue to engage in a divisive campaign
demonizing FOCA to distract the public from their opposition to birth control
and accurate sex education," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL
Pro-Choice America.
The nation's Catholic bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of FOCA
and Obama's abortion-rights positions. In the days before the November
elections, one called Obama "the most committed" abortion-rights
supporter to head a presidential ticket since Roe. Obama had promised during
his campaign he would sign FOCA if he were elected.
Along
with the 11 Catholic hospitals within the Archdiocese of
According to the CHA, Catholic hospitals make up 13 percent of the country's
nearly 5,000 hospitals, and employ more than 600,000 people. CHA says one of
every six Americans hospitalized in the
Not all bishops or Catholic health care professionals see closing down
hospitals as a realistic option. Bishop Robert Lynch of
Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of CHA, said
in an interview that she did not believe the language in the most recent
version of FOCA — despite its definition of abortion as a fundamental right —
would force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. But she also said that if
it did, the church would look to the historical example of racial segregation
as a model for civil disobedience.
"From the other side we hear consistent talk about being pro-choice,"
Keehan said. "If FOCA passes, the concept of
being pro-choice will not be incompatible with our position — our choice would
be not to participate."
Seven of the 11 hospitals in the Archdiocese of St. Louis are run by SSM
Healthcare. In a statement, the company said it opposes FOCA "because it
attempts to increase access to abortion and remove restrictions to
abortion."
If FOCA were to become law, it continued, "We do not believe our Catholic
hospitals would be forced to participate and we would advocate strongly for our
right of conscience to refuse to provide abortion services."
While the Catholic Church has been most vocal on the FOCA issue, it's not
alone. As Obama prepared to take the oath of office in January, the National
Right to Life Committee warned its members that congressional Democrats were
poised to work with the new president "to push an expansive pro-abortion
agenda."
"The pro-life movement," the organization declared in its monthly
newspaper, "is bracing for battle."
Pam Fichter, president of Missouri Right to Life,
called FOCA "a top priority" for her group, which is working to pass
a resolution in both houses of the Missouri Legislature that urges Congress to
reject FOCA. The resolution has passed the Missouri House and is scheduled for
a hearing in the Senate, and Missouri Right to Life is holding its Pro-Life
Action Day in
FOCA opponents have been discouraged by two moves made by Obama's
administration in recent weeks. In January, the administration repealed a Bush
policy that restricted federal dollars for international groups that perform or
promote abortion overseas.
And this week, Obama nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Sebelius
is a Roman Catholic who has been chastised by
After Sebelius' nomination, HHS hinted that it would
soon repeal another Bush administration rule — enacted in December — that
allowed health care professionals to opt out of providing abortion or birth
control procedures on moral grounds.
In order to combat what its sees as inevitable, the Catholic Church launched a
"Fight FOCA" postcard campaign aimed at Congress in January. Rep.
Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., who participated in an
anti-FOCA rally last month at St. Anthony's
"People have worked 30-some years to protect the rights of the unborn and
FOCA would undo many of their efforts," Luetkemeyer
said.
Keehan said shutting down Catholic hospitals would
tear the fabric of the American health care system.
"Catholic health care plays such an important role in communities across
this nation," she said, that Americans are "not going to sacrifice
their health care facility, which employs so many, cares for so many, and has
been part of their community for many years by forcing them to do abortions."