A terrible blunder by the US Catholic Bishops Tom Smith

The Bishops could have stopped the health care bill in the House, and killed it.  Instead, they struck a deal to include language that prohibited federal funding for abortions. Without that deal, health care was dead in the House.  Once that deal was made and endorsed by the Bishops, passage was inevitable. But anybody could see this language was never going to make it out of the legislative womb alive.  Now the WH is saying as much -- that it has to go.  

If a health care bill ultimately passes, which it might, it will probably contain language that means as a practical matter, that abortions will be subsidized by federal government.  And the structure that is set up, which will ultimately require rationing and lots of it, will have every reason to encourage abortions at the front end and end of life counseling at the back, in order to save money.  You can say lots of things about abortion, but you can't say they don't save money.  A huge, truly epic fail.

Comments

[jimbino]

Abortions not only save money, they save marriages and other relationships, save taxpayer funds, save the planet from carbon and, according to Freakonomics, lead to reduction in the crime rate come 20 years.

[Dan]

If you don't mind, please explain the rules about the vote after a conference of both houses. If the conference removes the Stupak language, can't Stupak and other Dems that share his beliefs decline to vote for the final bill? Will they be obligated to vote for what comes out of conference? Or is your prediction based on assumptions about the party pressures that can be brought to bear?

[Lou Gots]

The Bishops are learning how single-issue politics works. The technique, as perfected by the National Rifle Association is to focus laser-like on the issue, and to avoid extraneous political entanglement. Both parties need to know that they do not own you, and that they can have tour support, or at least avoid your opposition, by caving to you on the single-issue. This is why the gun issue has worked out the way it has.

Abortion is like gun-grabbing. When the baby's dead, it's dead, when your gun's gone, it's gone. Compromise is out of the question. The Bishops cannot accept federalized murder as the price of health-care "reform." To say we sacrificed the lives of the unborn in exchange for other parts of the bill we liked doesn't make the murder less blameworthy, it makes it more so, for then we become accomplices in murder for hire.

One of the lessons of 1994 was that the price of a "profiles in courage" moment in defiance of a powerful single-interest group is higher than a political party is willing to pay. A betrayal such as suggested would be as transformative as the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban."

[a modest proposal]

Jimbino is right. And the same policy would work for the homeless too. Think of all the food at soup kitchens which could be diverted to more useful purposes. Perhaps aborted babies and fetus could also be used as a food source themselves making them a great way to combat global warming. With a crisis of this magnitude we need all hands on deck or err off them drowning in the ocean not consuming resources in this case. We could even set up a carbon offset program for them. Al Gore would be the first in line. No? Am I going wrong somewhere?

[Larry]

Catholic officials never saw a social spending measure they didn't like.

[pj]

Lou - You're right. But the bishops ought to recognize that socialism is as antithetical to Christian morality as abortion. For "do not enslave" is as opposed to Christian principles as "do not kill," and socialism is slavery to the state. Instead they seem willing to accept socialism as long as it is not (for now) pro-abortion socialism. The trouble is the socialists all want abortion, and once they have socialism, they will have the power to impose whatever they want. Single-issue focus on abortion would be a sensible tactic in many scenarios, but not the one we face.

[pj]

oops, should be '"do not enslave" is as central to Christian principles as "do not kill"'

[hotelbewertungen]

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[boats]

Sounds like a plan to me
Anyway, yours truly felt it was about time yours truly posted