This week, Catholic Advocate joined eighteen other pro-life organizations in urging the Catholic Health Association to support H.R. 5111, the Protect Life Act, sponsored by Congressman Joe Pits (R-PA).
As you may remember, President Obama signed an Executive Order promising to prevent federal tax dollars from funding abortion in the new health care law.
However, three months after the bill was signed into law, questions remain as to how the Executive Order will be implemented. White House officials have avoided responding to direct questions about drafting policies that carry out the Executive Order.
Demonstrating his continued commitment to life, Congressman Pitts introduced H.R. 5111,the Protect Life Act, as an effort to fix the abortion language in the Obama health care bill.
This bill is critical in upholding the sanctity of human life in the future of American healthcare, and it is vital for all members of the Catholic community to support this measure.
The letter, addressed to the Catholic Health Association, states:
There is no guarantee that abortion funding will be excluded without statutory language preventing federal funds from covering and/or subsidizing abortion in the healthcare bill. As we have seen numerous times in the past, if abortion coverage is not explicitly excluded from legislation it is implicitly included. In order to ensure that unborn Life is protected in this bill, H.R. 5111 needs to become law.
We encourage the Catholic Health Association and Catholics throughout America to support legislation that clearly prevents federal dollars from funding abortion.Relying on a capricious Executive Order is not enough of a guarantee that innocent life will be protected.
Sincerely,
Deal W. Hudson
President, Catholic Advocate
