Bishops and nuns debate abortion restrictions in Senate healthcare bill

By Rachel Howell Stockton

With definitive battle lines drawn, the Catholic Church, which has been traditionally in favor of universal health care reform, has divided against itself over the funding of abortion in Obama’s proposed health care bill.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a group the Washington Post calls the “official voice” of the Catholic Church in the United States, has made a statement decrying the bill, saying that the restrictions covering abortion do not go far enough. 

In contrast, 60 leaders from a group of nuns numbering 59,000 believe that although the current restrictions aren’t “perfect”, the health care bill itself is a good start in providing affordable coverage to pregnant women and new mothers. 

Fight Over Funding

According to the House version of the bill, abortion would have to come from separate insurance plans that do not rely on government funds for the procedure.  In other words, women would have to have a separate policy to comply with the federal law, which has prohibited government funding of abortion since the 1970s. 

The problem the bishops have with this bill is that in reality, the government would help pay the premiums of some of those separate policies, thereby funding abortion indirectly.  Additionally, accounting for those separate funds, which would have to be kept in a separate account, could potentially be laborious.

Also a bone of contention with the bishops is the fact that the White House is using the backing of the liberal nuns to try and persuade conservative Democrats to vote for the health care bill as it currently stands.