Texas Bishops: Do not support current Senate Health Care Reform bill

The Texas Bishops have written to the Texas Congressional Representatives to reiterate their call to support genuine, life-affirming health care reform and ask that Representatives oppose the current Senate Health Care Reform bill.The letter refutes the claim that there are no significant differences between the House and Senate health care reform bills on the issue of abortion, and includes resources that analyze these differences. You can read the letter below:

March 17, 2010

Dear Representative: 

Late last week Mr. Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, of the Washington and Lee University School of Law, made the claim that there are no “significant differences” between the House and Senate health care reform bills on the issue of abortion. Mr. Jost argued that since there were no differences between the two bills on this major issue that House members should approve the Senate bill which is currently before the House.  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has analyzed the Senate bill and shown that the Senate bill does indeed expand federal funding for abortion. Please see the attached documents for more information.(Web note: attachments are linked below)

However, there have been some voices in national Catholic health care ministry who have accepted Mr. Jost’s analysis on its face. We feel compelled, under the circumstances, to let you know that we respectfully disagree with Mr. Jost and are in full agreement with the U.S. Conference of Bishops in asking you not to support the Senate version of the health care reform bill.

As a community of faith the Catholic Church supports true health care reform. True health care reform ensures that health care is accessible and affordable for all, while maintaining current federal law regarding abortion funding and conscience protection. Unfortunately, the Senate version before the House at this time would change current federal law and provide tax dollars for elective abortions. This is a drastic shift from current law, which under the Hyde Amendment, bars federal funding for abortions or plans that include abortion. In addition, the Senate version does not include a conscience protection for physicians and hospitals who are morally opposed to performing abortions. The Senate version would also prohibit those among us who are undocumented from purchasing health insurance with their own money.

I am including the detailed response made by the USCCB staff explaining why Mr. Jost is mistaken in his analysis of the Senate and House bills. If you have any questions on the position of the Bishops of Texas with regard to this bill, feel free to contact the Texas Catholic Conference at 512-339-9882.

In Christ's peace,

Andrew Rivas Executive Director Texas Catholic Conference

Attachments (all open as PDF documents)

USCCB - Jost Response

USCCB - Facts on Abortion Funding in the Senate bill

USCCB - Abortion funding at Community Health Centers

USCCB - Life and Conscience Issues Bill Comparison

PDF of the letter

For more information, visit the USCCB Health Care Web site here.
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