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Catholic Bishops Call the Shots on Health Care Reform
We now know that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which in the end run reports to Rome, was involved in the crafting and promotion of the Stupak Amendment, the provision that transformed a tepid health care victory for the Democrats into a serious loss for women’s reproductive rights. Hard as it is to believe, this sober conclave seems to have outstripped even the screaming fundamentalist Protestants in wielding influence over Congressional policymaking in this instance.
The Stupak Amendment was promulgated by a devout Catholic Democrat from Michigan, who is now being celebrated as a pro-life hero. He and 63 other Democrats insisted on the anti-choice measure, under threat of crushing the whole bill, and they reportedly worked with the USCCB to come up with "acceptable" language for the amendment. The bishops apparently had a direct line to the Repubican leadership, as well: According to Politico, "Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called Republican leader John Boehner to make sure the GOP didn’t play any games with the Stupak (abortion) amendment, sources said.”
Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, despairs of what he calls the American bishops’ “obsession” with sex and sexual politics. In an interview today, O'Brien said these bishops are supposed to be dedicated to the sick, poor, and vulnerable, all of whom desperately need decent health care. Yet they have shown themselves willing “to burn health care reform” over the abortion issue–a postion that places them out of line with the majority of lay Catholics.
O’Brien points out that a recent poll commissioned by the organization shows that “while Catholic voters are split on President Obama’s ideas for healthcare reform, they do want to see costs lowered and overwhelmingly support a government plan that would make health insurance available to the uninsured.” In addition:
Catholic voters believe the US Catholic bishops are wrong on healthcare reform. Sixty-eight percent disapprove of US bishops saying that all Catholics should oppose the entire healthcare reform plan if it includes coverage for abortion and 56 percent think the bishops should not take a position on healthcare reform legislation in Congress.
Despite what many conservatives argue, Catholic voters are against refusal clauses for institutions that take taxpayer dollars. Sixty-five percent said that hospitals and clinics that take taxpayer dollars should not be allowed to refuse certain procedures or medications based on religious beliefs. In addition, 60 percent believe that hospitals and clinics that take taxpayer dollars should be required to include condoms as part of HIV prevention.
The poll also found that “large majorities of Catholic voters support health insurance coverage for abortions, either in a private or a government-run scheme” in order to protect the life or health of the mother, in cases of rape and incest, or when tests show a fetus has a severe abnormal condition. This makes them somewhat more liberal than the Stupak Amendment, which imposes narrower restrictions. Catholics are even split 50-50 on “whether insurance plans should cover abortion whenever a woman and her doctor decide it is appropriate.”
So American public policy on health care and reproductive rights is being shaped not by a majority of voters or even a majority of Catholic voters, but by a bunch of celibate men in robes, answering to a reactionary 82-year-old German in the Vatican. Does this mean that in addition to the insurance industry, Big Pharma, and other health care profiteers, we must now wait for His Holiness to weigh in?
Ad from the USCCB
I was with you till this
I was with you till this sentence in which your argument veers into an ad-hominem conclusion and smear.
"So American public policy on health care and reproductive rights is being shaped not by a majority of voters or even a majority of Catholic voters, but by a bunch of celibate men in robes, answering to a reactionary 82-year-old German in the Vatican."
Let's fix this up:
"So American public policy on health care and reproductive rights is being shaped not by a majority of voters or even a majority of Catholic voters, but by a minority of orthodox religious followers, answering to a reactionary 82-year-old German in the Vatican all of whom are very sincere in their beliefs regarding abortion and what they see as the killing of a human being and all of whom are apparently following the law and acceptable political behaviors."
I don't like the Stupak amendment, and I am not all supportive of the Vatican sticking its nose in there, but the way you formulate it, the problem is these are A) men, and B) somehow disingenuous in their beliefs and C) somehow acting inappropriately.
You hadn't demonstrated any of that, but you did take a huge steaming corn flecked shit on an otherwise cogent essay of yours.
Congratulations.
Maybe he should have written:
"a bunch of celibate men in robes, answering to a reactionary 82-year-old man in the Vatican, who as a rule have little useful to say when it comes to sex"
I'm pro-choice, but the
I'm pro-choice, but the argument I hear so frequently these days, which is just such a lame and dishonest argument, is that it's about old white guys wanting to control a woman's sexual life.
It's about abortion. It's about definition and research in the 21st century as to when life does begin. It's about sincerely and honestly felt religious beliefs. It is about morality as two different groups see it.
Nothing will happen until the various groups can respect each other. Cheap shots are a good way to earn a beer, but not worth reading, and do little to advance an argument.
MoJo should be better than that and not just simply repeating the memes.
It's not just about abortion
It's about birth control, gay sex, women's role in the workplace, and for pete's sake, masturbation. I don't care about their intentions, its about a group of men with very little professed experience in what they're talking about mucking up a lot people's lives with their meddling. They've done a lot of damage.
I'm not sure what you're
I'm not sure what you're getting at. Of course the catholic church wants to control people's sex lives. They're against birth control, condemns (even to prevent AIDS) and abortion because they think people should wait until they're married. They don't even want birth control taught in schools.
How is that not control?
You are wrong, as well as tasteless
Anon, you are wrong that the bishops "apparently following the law." Instead, it appears that they are engaged in political advocacy, which is illegal for a tax exempt organization.
And your "corn-flecked" comment is disgusting.
Dollared
Those of us who have been
Those of us who have been around for a while remember that when JFK ran for president, there were fears that the pope would be setting policy because JFK was Catholic.
Now, it seems, a majority of our Congressional reps are happy to have the pope set policy. Oh, to be back in the good old days...
Now the catholics are
Now the catholics are calling the shots . One of Nixon's cabinet menbers once said ( refering to tne pope) "he no playa da game he no makea da rule" I could never understand the GOP stand against abortions because there should not be gov't controlling a womens' right. This is typical of the hyprocicy of the GOP. George Carlin once said"if you don't like abortions stay away from the clinics" And if you want to be fiscally conservative, $ spent on abortions is cheaper than the costs of raising the babyies born to walfare crack-moms.
re: Catholic Bishops Call the Shots on Health Care Reform
The bishops teach that life begins at fertilization. Of course, bishops are not lawyers or judges, so they are not experts on the law. But the legal structures nonetheless would have to accommodate church teaching once it became the law of the land, which would in turn result in some form of criminal charge for abortion, whether it's voluntary or involuntary. (I'm not saying it would be an equivalent form of punishment.) That's because while a heart attack may not result in the loss of human life, an abortion always does. The bishops cannot want to change the law on the one hand and not expect there to be legal consequences on the other. The bishops may not want there to be any punishment, but the law demands it. Once laws are passed by Congress to state that human life begins at fertilization, the law will provide for criminal punishment for abortion and anything that might lead to abortion. I just hope that this issue will be resolved without using any money now and that the two parties will meet half way.
Oh my...No educated person
Oh my...No educated person disputes the fact that life begins at conception. The question in the abortion rights debate is when is that life entitled to protection under the law. your breathless hyperbole aside, the Bishps and the Catholic Church have fought hard to stop all killing whether it is abortion or the death penalty
So untrue
Let's be clear - by prioritizing abortion above all else, the Bishops have not "fought hard to end all killing." They made a conscious choice to favor the anti-abortionist Republicans, who are responsible for ONE MILLION deaths in Iraq and thousands of state sponsored murders in the US, over the less militaristic Democrats.
And I do dispute that "life" begins at conception - a form of possible life is created at conception, but it changes its form and possibilities at implantation, at various stages of development, and at viability, and at birth. Just because you are overly simplistic does not mean that no one can dispute your POV.
Dollared
Catholic Church
The Catholic church should be ignored and honestly it deserves widespread condemnation and scorn. From it's consistent defense and sheilding of pedophiles to the Pope loudly telling AIDS ridden Africa the use of a condom is forbidden under any circumstance I see no reasons why the Catholic Church deserves anyones respect.
great article
great article
First of all, like many
First of all, like many people with PhD, I object to the definition of 'life beginning at conception.' Secondly, were it 'life', it is extremely unclear why it should take priority over the life, health and welfare of an existing adult (unless one considers women as baby-factories, as the Catholic Church clearly does). Thirdly, the Catholic Church has tax exempt status as a religious institution, and interfering with the law-making process, as they are clearly doing, is a violation of their status.
You don't like abortion, don't have one. You don't like contraception, don't use it. Don't come and tell me how to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. Voters beware: Thomas Hobbes was right when he said that "Popists" may be more loyal to a foreign power than to their own government. Clearly, Stupak is more loyal to his boss in Rome than to his constituents.
It's about life...
...not sex. The Pope and bishops (and devoted Catholics) know what thus is really about. I encourage you to read Christopher West's work on The Theology of the Body before you make such deaparaging remarks about why the Church cares so much about this issue. Also, there are plenty of examples of people being experts in fields they study but never take part in (space travel for example). The fact tht these men are
celibate has no impact on their ability to know what they speak of. According to your flawed logic, prostitutes and pornographic actors should lead any policy debate involving sex since they have more experience than others.
Your final analogy is good, but you are willfully ignoring facts
Catholic theology is deeply invested in controlling sexual impulses. There may be a more elegant theological and philosophical overlay, but if you don't accept that Catholic attitudes about sex inform the Church law, you are ignoring centuries of data.
Dollared
Catholic Bishops
tagged as:- result
I am Catholic and probably will always be, have raised my kids in the church etc etc. but their recent spoutings in Mass about the health care system and abortion really gets on my nerves.
The church should be worried about their parishoners who have no food for their children etc etc.
not forcing their political views down people's throats, even my 16 year old son is now turned off by their style.
we have stopped giving collection because of that. it will probably go towards ads and robo calls for some wacko conservative politician!
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object hypocrisy
Something strikes me about this debate and that is how the neocon Republicans resemble the Iranians in seeking the approval of the clerics,their Mullahs, for their legislative agenda. This is why we have the separation of church and state clause, because religion has no place in government. I agree with the earlier poster that the bishops are violating the law in their advocacy for or against any legislation.
The Stupac amendment is a back door to killing health care reform.They know that this effectively overturns Roe V Wade, something both conservatives and the catholic leadership have been committed to at all costs since the ruling was made. The catholic bishops don't give a damn about the millions without insurance or the means to afford it or a womans ability to raise a child in poverty and continue to stick their nose in the bedrooms and doctors offices of women. Conservatives also share the belief with the bishops that women are to be submissive and totally subservient to men, a walk behind as my wife calls them.Why else would women have remained second class citizens for centuries in the eyes of the Pope? I have listened to conservatives arguments against abortion for forty years and it all comes down to control of women and families.