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Cardinal to Congress: Don't Fund D.C. Abortions |
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Published by Katie Meinert - Trinity Fiduciary
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Wednesday, 01 July 2009 |
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Says American Majority Opposes It
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).-
The chairman of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee is urging
lawmakers not to allow the public funding for abortions in the District
of Columbia.
Cardinal Justin Rigali sent a letter today to
members of the House Appropriations Committee regarding a decision made
by a subcommittee last week that will permit direct public funding for
abortion in Washington, D.C.
Says American Majority Opposes It
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).-
The chairman of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee is urging
lawmakers not to allow the public funding for abortions in the District
of Columbia.
Cardinal Justin Rigali sent a letter today to
members of the House Appropriations Committee regarding a decision made
by a subcommittee last week that will permit direct public funding for
abortion in Washington, D.C.
He pointed out that this is "an
action to promote publicly funded abortion, presumably the first step
in a broader effort to restore such funding throughout the federal
government," but that it neglects three realities.
First, the
cardinal affirmed, "public funding of abortion is rejected by the
American people, as numerous surveys of public opinion have shown."
He
reported that this opposition was shown by Catholics nationwide who
recently sent "tens of millions of postcards to their elected
representatives in Congress" to oppose the Freedom of Choice Act as
well as "any weakening or reversal of current appropriations riders on
abortion."
Second, Cardinal Rigali added, "no lawmaker or
administration can support such a policy change and still claim to
support 'reducing abortions.'"
"The evidence is overwhelming,"
he noted, "and universally recognized by groups on all sides of the
abortion issue, that the availability of public funds for abortion
greatly increases abortions."
Third, the prelate stated, "this
action takes place as Congress is working to win broad support for a
much-needed major reform of our health care system."
He
continued, "A key issue in this debate is whether any open-ended or
general language on benefits in such legislation will be exploited to
begin funding abortions or mandating abortion coverage."
"This
is the worst of all possible times to be injecting the divisive issue
of public abortion funding into the debate on government health
policy," the cardinal explained.
He urged the committee to reverse the subcommittee's action, and to uphold the funding ban currently supported by law.
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