August 15, 2003
Dear Senator:
I am writing to urge you to support and co-sponsor the Abortion
Non-Discrimination Act (S. 1397). This is a bipartisan proposal that
protects a basic right, the right to choose not to participate in
abortions. The House of Representatives approved this legislation in
September 2002 but it has not received Senate consideration.
Swift action on S. 1397 is needed. In recent years there has been a
nationwide effort to attack the conscience rights of Catholic and
other health care providers. In one example cited at a House hearing
in July 2002, an Alaska court forced a community hospital to provide
elective late-term abortions contrary to its policy and the sentiment
of the community. Abortion advocacy groups have even urged the state
of New Jersey to require a Catholic health system to build an abortion
clinic on its premises, to serve what they see as a right of "access"
to abortion (see "ACLU asks release of $1.5 million," Burlington
County Times, July 9, 2002).
S. 1397 addresses these problems in a modest and straightforward
manner, by clarifying the scope of a nondiscrimination statute (42 USC
§238n) that both House and Senate overwhelmingly approved in 1996. The
current law protects "health care entities," such as medical residency
programs, from being forced by government bodies to provide
abortions or abortion training. But the absence of explicit statutory
language regarding other health care entities has been exploited by
groups that favor forced involvement in abortions, and hence the need
for clarification by Congress. The new bill makes it clear that this
protection extends to the full range of such entities, including
hospitals, health plans, and individual health professionals other
than physicians. It also applies this protection to entities being
pressured to pay for abortions against their will.
Abortion advocates, by opposing this modest legislation, have
called into serious question their past claim that they favor a "right
to choose" on abortion. I hope the Senate will take to heart what was
said by a board member of the Alaska hospital mentioned above:
Hospitals and other health care providers have "a right to choose
not to be involved in destroying life." Please support and
co-sponsor the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act. The staff of our
Bishops’ Conference would be glad to meet with you to discuss this
bill further and answer any questions you may have about it.
Sincerely,
Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Chairman, Committee for Pro-Life Activities
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
__________________________
Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3070
