WASHINGTON, DC—The Center for American Progress recently released two analyses that address reasons to support the pending health reform bill, especially for those concerned about abortion.
Health Reform Legislation Reflects Catholic Social Teachings
By Ellen-Marie Whelan, Marta Cook | March 19, 2010
“The Roman Catholic Church has been a longstanding advocate for health care reform in the United States, leading the effort for nearly a century. Given the Catholic Church’s social justice tradition—with its principles of human dignity, solidarity, special status of the poor, and concern for the common good—the Catholic Church’s commitment to a more accessible and affordable health care system for all is grounded in centuries-old teachings and traditions. Among these traditions is a commitment to stewardship, which calls for responsible rather than wasteful spending on health care…
“This fact sheet lays out in detail how the health care legislation now under consideration in Congress reflects the eight criteria laid out by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as important to health care reform. The criteria were taken from an official statement submitted by the USCCB to the Congressional Record on May 20, 2009.”
Fact sheet: A comparison of Catholic teachings and the current health reform legislation (pdf)
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Universal Health Care Means Less Abortion and More Choice
By Jessica Arons | March 19, 2010
“No more speculation. Now we know—universal health care coverage leads to a reduction in the abortion rate, confirming what many have long suspected but have never before been able to prove in the United States. A report released this week in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that the abortion rate declined in the first two years after Massachusetts implemented health care reform…
“It is the height of irony, then, that one of the biggest sticking points in the health care debate has been abortion, when we now have such compelling evidence that universal health care can reduce the abortion rate. As an organization representing 59,000 Roman Catholic nuns recently stated, the pending health reform bill "is the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it."
“We may have waded so deep into the realm of politics that facts have little bearing at this point. But for politicians concerned about abortion, the best thing they can do is vote for comprehensive health reform.”
Read the full column
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