A pair of anti-choice Representatives joining several Catholic health care experts and theologians to dismiss claims by some in the anti-abortion community that a vote for the Senate health care reform bill is a vote to invite government funding of abortion.
On the call, organized by the group Faith In Public Life, Reps. Charlie Wilson (D-OH) and Dale Kildee (D-MI) said that a vote for the bill would not run afoul of their anti-choice views. In fact, they and the experts said, the bill is likely to decrease the number of abortions performed in America and make insurance coverage for the procedure less common.
“I will be 81 years old in September,” Kildee, who announced yesterday that he’ll vote yes on the Senate bill, said. “Certainly at this point in my life I’m not going to change my mind and support abortion and I’m not going to risk my eternal salvation.”
Wilson, who has not yet made up his mind about whether or not to vote for the bill said that if he does vote no, it won’t be over abortion.
“I’m taking my time to review it, and there might still be things I want to see changed,” he said, “but at this time, I’m convinced that the Senate bill upholds by pro-life values.”
The Representatives were joined on the call by nurse Sister Simone Campbell and former Associate General Secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Francis Xavier Doyle. Both said they supported passing the Senate bill, which they said not only keeps federal funding away from abortion but also will expand access to health care for low-income Americans, a goal they said is as important a part of Catholic “pro-life” politics as is banning abortion.
“The bill makes a positive statement for life,” Campbell said.
Doyle agreed. “As a Catholic who believes very deeply in the sanctity of human life,” he said, “I’m very happy to support [the Senate] health care bill.”
The view put the pair at odds with the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has publicly come out in opposition to the Senate legislation. Doyle, who is a retired member of that organization, said he wasn’t worried about going against his former colleagues.
“I don’t expect to pay any price,” he said. “[But] I think the decision I reached is the right one, whatever the consequences might be.”
Campbell, who is the executive director of the Catholic social justice advocacy group NETWORK said that politics are coming into play with the bishops’ decision to oppose the bill.
“The issue now is politics,” she said of the split among anti-choice lawmakers and Catholic leaders about the Senate bill. Anti-choice Republicans have claimed that the bill will include federal funding for abortion, and will expand the practice once enacted. The Catholic advocates for the bill on the call today called that nonsense, and claimed that the Hyde Amendment, which the bill does not alter, requires that no federal funds be used for abortion.
Campbell said the bill is clear, and said that any professed confusion about its contents at this point are just a political ploy by those who hope to see Democratic health care reform defeated.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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