St. Louis — A proposed bill promising major changes in the U.S. abortion landscape has Roman Catholic bishops threatening to close Catholic hospitals if the Democratic Congress and White House make it law.
The Freedom of Choice Act failed to get out of subcommittee in 2004, but its sponsor is poised to refile it now that former Senate co-sponsor Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office.
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who was the sponsor of the 2004 bill, said the legislation “is among the congressman’s priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather than later.”
FOCA, as the proposal is known, would make federal law out of the abortion protections established in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling.
The proposal spurred one Roman Catholic bishop to threaten to shutter Catholic hospitals rather than comply with FOCA.
“It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions. That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil,” said Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a Chicago auxiliary bishop who has been mentioned as a contender to be the next archbishop of St. Louis. He was speaking at the bishops’ annual fall meeting in Baltimore in November.
There are 624 Catholic hospitals in the country.
But even within the Catholic community, there is disagreement about the effects FOCA might have on hospitals, with some health care professionals and bishops saying a strategy of ignoring the law, if it passes, would be more effective than closing hospitals.
Ilan Kayatsky, Nadler’s spokesman, said he anticipates that the bill’s other original sponsor, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will introduce FOCA in the U.S. Senate. “We expect it to be more or less the same bill with some minor tweaks,” Kayatsky said.
Boxer’s office declined to comment.
The nation’s Catholic bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of FOCA and Obama’s abortion-rights positions. In the days before the November elections, one called Obama “the most committed” abortion-rights supporter to head a presidential ticket since Roe. Obama had promised during his campaign he would sign FOCA if he were elected.
According to the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Catholic hospitals make up 13 percent of the country’s nearly 5,000 hospitals, and employ more than 600,000 people. CHA says one of every six Americans hospitalized in the United States is cared for in a Catholic hospital.
Not all bishops or Catholic health care professionals see closing down hospitals as a realistic option. Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., a member of CHA’s board of trustees, wrote on his blog last month that “even in the worst case scenario, Catholic hospitals will not close. We will not comply, but we will not close.” Instead, he advocated a strategy of “civil disobedience.”
Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of CHA, said in an interview that she did not believe the language in the most recent version of FOCA — despite its definition of abortion as a fundamental right — would force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. But she also said that if it did, the church would look to the historical example of racial segregation as a model for civil disobedience.
“From the other side we hear consistent talk about being pro-choice,” Keehan said. “If FOCA passes, the concept of being pro-choice will not be incompatible with our position — our choice would be not to participate.”
Comments
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jf50 (anonymous) says…
I feel that we should have pro-choice. It is a matter that is between the women and God. I may not do it but I want the right to choose and let God judge me for it. Catholics seem to be judgemental on things and the bible says not to judge. We are also to live by the laws of the land.
gr (anonymous) says…
"and the bible says not to judge."
Do you wish to use the Bible for the standard?
oldvet (anonymous) says…
"We are also to live by the laws of the land"
That argument didn't work very well at Nuremberg...
coolmarv (anonymous) says…
jf50
Do you really want God to judge you after having an abortion? Is that a chance you are willing to take? I don't think the Catholic church's stand is whether to judge or not to judge but rather to stop the ending of innocent lives through abortion. You act as though abortion is no more harmless then any common sin. There is a diifference in sin and 'grave sin'. If God views abortion the same as the murdering of a person, after they are born, are you still willing to be judged by God.
SettingTheRecordStraight (anonymous) says…
I'm not Catholic, but I support Catholic hospitals as they take up the mantle of social justice and civil disobedience.
HermioneElliott (anonymous) says…
Why would someone go to a Catholic hospital expecting an abortion?
Let's live in the present and not be bringing up people who lived long ago.
The Catholic church was founded by Jesus. The other churches were founded by humans who got miffed and thought they could do a better job.
Judging is wrong, discernment is wise.
Confrontation (anonymous) says…
"That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil"
That pretty much sums up the Catholic Church as a whole.
gr (anonymous) says…
"The Catholic church was founded by Jesus."
And the evidence is...?
kbenn (anonymous) says…
The subject of abortion in a civilized society is on it's face shameful. When the unborn is threatened in the womb by those ..who are certainly alive ..it's hypocrisy and indifference to all life but their own. There are some things which it is not only impossible to discuss intelligently, but which it is not even intelligent to discuss. Playing God..fits nicely into this category.
.
Freestater456 (anonymous) says…
"Do you wish to use the bible for the standard"
I mean thats what all the catholics are doing so yeah. If they want to criticize people for disobeying the Lord then maybe they need a lesson in forgiveness. Since that is one of God's greatest attributes, he forgives people.
tennesseerader (anonymous) says…
Many people including myself consider abortion murder. Doctors and nurses should not have to be accomplices to infanticide. Pro Choice = Murder
Pretty soon after Obama nationalizes the health care system, old folks will be told,"your just too old to receive treatment".
lynchburgsbest (anonymous) says…
Who cares seperation of church and state.
Strontius (anonymous) says…
There's something horribly sick about so passionately defending people inside the womb while terrorizing and shatting upon the people outside. There's nothing "pro-life" about shutting down a hospital.
The Catholic Church is the last real bastion of fascism left in this world and the "pro-life" crowd is demonstratively anything but. The real desire is not to save lives, but to control people. Their thoughts, feelings, and actions down to the last detail.
If you love and cherish freedom, you are opposed to religion in all its forms, from the faith based Catholic Church to the secular Stalin-Lenin-Maoists. Humanity will never be free until the last King is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
gr (anonymous) says…
"
“Do you wish to use the Bible for the standard”
I mean thats what all the catholics are doing so yeah.
"
The Bible says not to kill.
Is choosing to not support killing the same as "judging"? What does the Hebrew for "judge" mean?
storm (anonymous) says…
It's nice to see good news once in a while.
misplacedcheesehead (anonymous) says…
I am not Catholic, but I applaud their position on this issue. I have not applauded their position on ALL issues, but I sure do on this one.
If Catholic hospitals are forced by the government to perform abortions, then Catholics are being denied the right to practice their faith!
I don't understand why the pro-choice crowd cannot respect the "other" choice, as well.