Rarely have I been as proud of our Catholic Bishops as I have during the health care debate. Richard M. Doerflinger, a spokesman for the USCCB, was quoted in the New York Times as follows: “We think that providing health care is itself a pro-life thing, and we think that, by and large, providing better health coverage to women could reduce abortions. But we don’t make these decisions statistically, and to get to that good we cannot do something seriously evil.”
The fight for pro-life health care reform is not over. To date, the Senate has not attached Stupak-like language to their version of the bill. They may end up doing so; Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a crucial swing vote and a pro-life Democrat, has indicated that he will oppose the final bill and potentially join a Republican filibuster if abortion funding is not restricted to the same degree as in the House bill. Even if this happens, however, my impression (and correct me if I’m wrong, as I’m not well-versed on Congressional procedure) is that amendments can be stripped off in conference committee. Given that NARAL and Planned Parenthood will not go down without a fight on this issue, and given that pro-choice Democrats do hold the majority, the eventual outcome is still very much uncertain.
But there is no doubt that the passage of the House bill with the Stupak amendment was a huge victory for the pro-life movement. It strengthened the hand of pro-life Democrats in the Senate, and at the same time reminded our leaders that most Americans (and many Representatives, including those who self-identify as pro-choice) are opposed to federal abortion funding in any form. And as the NYT article indicates, the credit for this victory goes largely to the USCCB. They’ve endured scorn from both the Left and the Right for their uncompromising stance in support of both the right to life and the right to adequate medical care. Those of us who are interested in simply being Catholics, and not “liberal Catholics” or “conservative Catholics,” should be proud of our shepherds.
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