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Health Care Reform and the Sanctity of Life |
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Prayer-Soldier writes "
Controversy continues to rage over the rush to implement Health Care Reforms and the potential impacts to our society. The good intentions of those pressing for immediate reform is to provide a health care system that will take care of all Americans. Politicians and political pundits have asked the question, “Don't we all agree that we need to develop an affordable health care system?” The question sounds simple and a noble objective, but the challenge is in the details. Many concerns are being voiced about who makes decisions, who pays, what will happen to seniors, and how so many different bureaucracies can come together to produce enough efficiencies to produce an effective, efficient and affordable system. The deepest issues, though, are contained in the ethics behind the decisions.
During the course of the debate, many groups are expressing concerns over provisions that are inconsistent with the sanctity of life. The mere words, “health care,” brings visions of a system to promote health and preserve life. Some critics, though, have raised concerns that the definition of “health services” could include abortion and euthanasia. In a 23 Jul 09 opinion column published by the “Wall Street Journal,” concerns were raised that the Health Care Reform bill being rushed through Congress would, “reduce access to care, pressure the elderly to end their lives prematurely, and doom baby boomers to painful later years.”
Meanwhile, there appears to be no agreement reached so far in relation to a letter sent to Nancy Pelosi by 19 House Democrats expressing their concerns that Health Care Reform could lead to federal funding of abortion unless explicitly excluded in the language of the bill. In the 25 Jun 09 letter, the Representatives stated that they, “believe in a culture that supports and respects the right to life and is dedicated to the protection and preservation of families.” They continued, “Therefore, we cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan.”
As these issues are being debated as part of health care reform, the current administration has extended a proposal to rescind a 2008 federal regulation which protects the conscience rights of health care providers to not participate in abortions. On 23 Mar 09, Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes issued a statement on behalf of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops which stated, “It is imperative that the rights of doctors, nurses and all medical professionals be protected and free from discrimination based upon their religious beliefs, morals and ethics.”
Health Care Reform issues that appear to be inconsistent with a respect for life could present ethical dilemmas for faith based medical institutions such as the 614 Catholic hospitals around the nation. Concern was registered in Nov 2008 that Catholic hospitals would be forced to close rather than perform abortions as would be mandated under the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).
The Catholic News Agency reported on 12 Nov 08 that Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, while addressing a full assembly of bishops, said that Catholic hospitals would be forced to close if FOCA passes, since they would refuse to perform abortions. The report related, “The entire body of bishops agreed with Bishop Paprocki in their statement, saying, 'It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.'”
FOCA appears to be dormant at the moment, but Health Care Reform bill language that would treat abortion as a “health care service” could have similar impacts. While a number of prolife organizations such as the American United for Life Action (AUL Action) are generating petitions to Congress to remove abortion from Health Care Reform, the hopes of such organizations are really pinned on prolife Democrats as Republicans do not have the numbers to stop any legislation.
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Posted on Wednesday, July 29 @ 01:30:06 MDT by drbonebrake
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