Multiethnic, Multiracial, and Transgenerational Federation of Organizations Unite on Health Care
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, a federation of some of the largest faith-based and policy organizations in the country weighed in on the national health care debate. United in their adherence to core values expressed in the Declaration of American Values, these multiethnic, multiracial, and transgenerational organizations affirm the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and agree that any health care policy must protect human life.
Without an explicit exclusion for abortion, the health care proposals on the table will fund abortion. Attempts to exclude abortion from the House bill were voted down. The majority of Americans do not support abortion on demand and do not want to fund the destruction of innocent human life. It is a moral imperative to protect human life. As a society treats the most vulnerable among us in the womb, it will similarly treat the aged and the ill. Any health care policy or proposal must protect those with debilitating or terminal illness and the elderly.
Human life is sacred because we are made in the image of God and are endowed by our Creator with the inalienable right to life. Government must protect human life. Life, no matter how young, is not expendable and, no matter how ill or aged, is not to be weighed on a cost-benefit scale.
Rather than disregard life and restrict our freedom with bureaucracy and endless paperwork, good government policy should explore creative solutions to address the true number of uninsured, not an inflated political number. Rather than take over health care, government could, for example, provide a dollar-for- dollar tax deduction from a person's gross income for the amount spent on health care premiums or payments. A similar dollar-for-dollar tax deduction with no limit could also be allowed for contributions to faith- based and nonprofit organizations that provide health care free or at a reduced cost for those in need. Health care should be portable and not anchored to a particular job. The solutions are as many as we dare to dream, but government control and bureaucracy are not the answer. No matter the solution, any health care proposal that destroys our freedom and does not protect human life from conception to natural death is unacceptable.
A partial list of organizations in the Freedom Federation will be posted online atwww.freedomfederation.org. These and other organizations will participate in a national health care webinar on September 10.
Read the statements by the leaders of some of the organizations here (in PDF format).
