| September 21, 2009 | Volume 84, Number 24 | |
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Abortion increase expected under Obama planMr. John Gazewood makes the case in the September 7 edition of The Catholic Virginian that the health care reform bill as currently written will not provide funding for abortions. However, when one reads the source that Mr. Gazewood provides (www.factcheck.org), one learns that the bill actually will cover abortions, “specifically those types of abortions that Congress allows to be covered under Medicaid” which include cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. Furthermore, the amendment also confers to the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power and authority to decide whether ANY other types of abortions will be covered in addition to the instances provided above. Factcheck.org informs its readers that although Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has not released any official statement regarding whether or not she would extend funding for all remaining types of abortions, our president himself said back in July 2007 that, if elected, he would propose a public insurance plan that would cover “reproductive services.” These words are often used interchangeably with abortion and abortion related services in the political world and indeed, a spokesman for his campaign confirmed that Obama intended to include abortion in his public health plan. In addition, the abortion rates provided in the letter constitute abortions per 1,000 women regardless of whether or not they were pregnant and yield numbers that make the United States appear to have a worse problem than western European countries (which typically have public healthcare plans). For a more practical and unbiased comparison, we should look at the abortion rate per 100 actual pregnancies and look beyond Europe as well. We will see that most countries that provide public health insurance currently have comparable rates to the United States. The U.S. has 23 abortions per 100 pregnancies. The United Kingdom has 22, Germany has 15, and France has 21. One doesn’t need a degree in economics to know that as the price decreases and availability increases, more and more people will choose to have an abortion. It is inaccurate to state that the health care reform, as it is currently written, will “reduce the number of abortions in America” when, in truth, the reform is set to trigger its drastic expansion.
Abortion coverage said to be part of HR3200A minister at the August 31 town hall meeting on health care, held by Congressman Rob Wittman in Newport News, told the crowd that he supported public health care — it’s OK with him as long as it doesn’t contain abortion — then he emphasized “ ...which it does not!” The minister is greatly mistaken on that point. Abortion is explicitly mentioned 17 times in HR3200. The phony Capps Compromise Amendment (added July 30, 2009) authorizes the public plan to cover all abortions.
This is a new funding pipeline that would not be subject to the Hyde Amendment — a year-to-year provision that currently prevents federal funding of abortion in the Medicaid program (Associated Press analysis, August 5, 2009). Amendments to keep elective abortion out of the public plan, as well as prevent federal subsidies from going to private plans that cover elective abortion, have been rejected by four committees made up of pro-abortion chairmen and majorities. “Essential benefits” in the Senate bill must include ambulatory patient services, hospitalization, and preventive services. Past federal court decisions included elective abortion under these broad categories. An explicit exclusion for abortion was rejected by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Abortion is not health care and it needs to be explicitly excluded from all health care plans. Contact your U.S. Congressman and both Virginia Senators and give them the message.
Health care reform bill & Planned ParenthoodHow can we continue the slaughter of the unborn, let me count the ways (but just a few): 1. Support and fund deadly embryonic stem cell research. 2. Hire a rabidly pro-abortionist (Kathleen Sebelius) to head the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 3. Dissolve the Mexico City Policy (which forbade U.S. taxes from being used to commit abortions in other countries). 4. Guarantee ‘women’s reproductive rights/health care’ in a government health care plan (HB3200). Planned Parenthood openly brags of its relationship to the Obama administration. Amendments explicitly excluding abortion “services” in the misnamed Health Reform effort are outright rejected, not even to be debated! Nancy Pelosi and multiple other legislators publicly guarantee abortion inclusion in health care. The terribly mis-named federal health care reform effort will negate the need to pass the Freedom Of Choice Act (FOCA). If government-run health care is enacted, with competition-eliminating resources — taxes, premiums, currency printing presses — they will dictate the details of “reproductive health services” for all U.S. females. The Obama administration is threatening Catholic Belmont Abbey College with “gender discrimination” by not including contraceptives (abortifacient and otherwise) and abortion in its employee health care plan. This action portends future government strong-arm intervention. What happened to promised “conscience clauses?” HB3200 may list Planned Parenthood as an “essential community provider.” Insurance providers, therefore, in order to be certified, would then be required to contract with PP. This ensures mega-dollars into the coffers of the most pro-abortion organization in the world, promoting abortion in unprecedented fashion. Our noble intentions for real health care reform cannot blind our obligation to stop the abomination of the murder of the unborn. We must vanquish HB3200 now and not be tricked by duplicitous wording left to future “interpretation.” This cannot be part of the change we hoped for. The need to improve health care for all must not be made at the expense of untold generations of babies’ lives. There is much more in this bill that is both offensive and immoral. The devil is in the details, not in the rhetoric.
Abortion pictures: Seeing is believingRecently when reading about the 18-year-old man who mutilated and illegally disposed of the bodies of 19 cats and the horror expressed by people in his area of Miami, I thought of the unborn babies who are mutilated by abortion and disposed of in dumpsters. Since the ominous decision of the Supreme Court to legalize abortion, there have been 50 million legal abortions in this county, and where is the outrage? I challenge those who think that because something is deemed legal by a few people, that it is also morally right. The young man who killed the cats faces charges and could go to jail. What he did was wrong, but isn’t it more seriously wrong to kill babies who are growing within their mother’s womb? An ultrasound of a live baby growing in the mother’s womb shows a human being moving about, often sucking his or her thumb. If one wants to view abortion procedures and see pictures of aborted fetuses, go to www.priestsforlife.org and also read the story about people who retrieve bodies of aborted babies from dumpsters. Seeing is believing. Father Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, has said, “America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion.” What has happened to wisdom? The fathers of our country had God’s wisdom. They prayed and obeyed the commandments. We have tried to stamp out God in so many areas of our lives that we no longer know the difference between right and wrongs. God help us and give us the grace to change. May we all pray for America.
Rachel’s Vineyard meant to bring healingThe Rachel’s Vineyard retreat will be held the weekend of September 25–27 at the Benedictine Abbey in Richmond. Men as well as women can feel the anguish consequential to abortion. You are invited to this HEALING weekend if you’ve been through the experience of abortion, or have been impacted by the abortion of another person, or if you caused someone to have an abortion. Grief, guilt, shame and unforgiveness can be reconciled in this transformative retreat process. Through God’s Divine Mercy reflected in Living Scripture Meditations, Sacraments and a Memorial Service, hope and healing become realities for retreat participants! Please call confidentially facilitators, Kay Marie and Joe Geiger at 804-330-3137, or Molly Smith at Church of the Epiphany, at 804-794-0222. E-mail: kmg4hope@verizon.net or visit this website to learn more: www.rachelsvineyard.org. d
Hispanics should learn to speak EnglishSenor Giblin (Erik Manuel Giblin, director of the diocesan Office for the Hispanic Apostolate) did not really reply to Dr. Bestler’s position so much as offer platitudes and rhetoric (Letters, Sept. 7 issue). In today’s culturally diverse society, is it impossible to minister and provide services unless one adopts the language of all newcomers? In my occupation I have been exposed to many, including Korean children, Russian children, etc. Is it impossible for them to thrive in our class because other students do not all know their language? No, it is possible for them to learn because they learn the language of the United States, English. They share their culture and language with us, not demanding wholesale that we adopt it, but rather that we eschew preconceived notions in order to share in their culture. We operate in a loving, caring way and they bring their experience to us as they learn the language we share as citizens in America. When my family two generations removed came to America, via Ellis Island, they spoke the languages of their mother tongue. They preserved their traditions, as well as their Catholic faith, but no one felt obligated to learn their language in order to assist them. They struggled in two languages; proficiency came by practice and willingness to embrace their new country’s values. They still spoke in their familiar voices at home and for comfort in a strange world. But today, I and my children speak English. We find the familiar in the rites and ritual of the Church, even in Latin, we can follow the worship at liturgy. I agree that it demeans our Hispanic Brethren, in that it says they are somehow less able, they cannot or will not act as other Americans and we must save their souls in Spanish or not at all. I, too, read and speak Spanish. I brush up every summer before school - por si acaso (just in case) Pero yo lo hago para comunicar (But I do it to communicate) not to enable others to miss the opportunity to speak English with me.
Editorial ignores teachings of ChristSteve Neill’s editorial “Is Mercy Always Right?“ (Sept. 7 issue) once again illustrates how difficult it is to actually live as a Christian (i.e. a “follower of Christ”). Throughout the history of the Church there are numerous examples of the compromises and exceptions people have made to justify their actions by overlooking or minimizing the actual teachings of Christ. So what kind of message could the humanitarian release of convicted mass murderer Al-Megrahi send to others? That Christians actually practice what they preach about forgiveness and mercy and that Christianity really is a religion of love and forgiveness? Jesus said to love your enemies and to do good to those who persecute and hate you. He went on to state “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” Yes, this is indeed a “hard saying” that few are willing or able to follow, but it is the ideal set forth by Christ and those who make efforts to follow it should be respected rather than condemned. And as a side note, Archbishop Dolan’s comment that “mercy must be tempered with justice” is actually the obverse of the more commonly accepted and more Christian saying that justice must be tempered with mercy.
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Any citizen who signs up for the public plan will be compelled to pay for abortion on demand as the Capps Amendment requires the federal agency to raise every enrollee’s premium by an amount sufficient to pay for all abortions paid for by the agency — “not less than $1 per month (Time Magazine, August 24, 2009).”