Obamacare and its quietly anti-Catholic provisions

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
7/1/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Hardly discussed, Obamacare should be considered anathema.

It became official yesterday. As the US Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, the Catholic church now faces its greatest, most fundamental threat in modern American history. And although many Catholics continue to support President Obama, it is probably because they do not understand the implications of the ruling and Obama's battle royale with the Catholic church.

Obama's plan has Catholics paying for abortion inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception in defiance of any respect for religious freedom and human dignity.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Many mainstream Catholics regard Obama positively and even applaud his apparent efforts to build consensus and stay positive throughout his administration. They also seem to applaud his efforts to improve the welfare of all citizens by legislating access to healthcare for all. After all, who does not want people to have health care?

Certainly, the Church has no opposition to improving the quality of life of all people, especially the poor and disadvantaged. The Church supports making health care available for all. So viewed simply, some Catholics think Obama could be a reasonable choice for president.

However, the reality of how to open health care to all isn't a simple thing. The reality is, some of President Obama's policies, such as the dreaded HHS mandate in the enforcement of the Affordable Care Act, are overtly anti-Catholic and anti-Life. Other of his policies are quietly anti-Catholic and anti-life.

And while some provisions of Obamacare may be popular and have good intentions, they are tainted with profound difficulties and could have an evil effect. Obama has apparently managed to stealthily maneuver some Catholics into supporting an anti-life political agenda.

Obamacare compels Catholics to participate in anti-life activities, no matter how much they are opposed to it. Not only is this evil, but it is coercive and tramples upon our God-given, First Amendment protected, right to freedom of religion and conscience.

How does this happen?

Obamacare considers contraceptives, sterilizations, abortifacients, and abortion as "preventative services" under its definition of "health care". The underlying presumption is that pregnancy is a disease. When people pay into the Obamcare scheme, whether as taxpayers or through their insurance, their dollars will be used to finance these procedures, some of which must be provided for free to all women. The people have no choice - the individual mandate means everyone pays.

It is ironic that a national federalized healthcare plan would make anti-life procedures absolutely free while still requiring people to pay out-of-pocket for lifesaving procedures and medications.

Worse, there is no means to allow supposedly free people to opt out of paying into such plans. Now, even your parish priest must pay for insurance or pay a penalty that will one way or another go into a system that uses his money to fund anti-life procedures.

Of course the Bishops of the Catholic church have raised this point on behalf of all Catholics, other Christians and people of good will, but the Obama administration has ignored their pleas.

This is why Catholics cannot support Obamacare in its present form. And the disrespect and disdain for the Catholic Church is one reason why faithful Catholics should not support Obama. This is a problem for the President, because a great number of Catholics are registered Democrats. By disrespecting the church, Obama is actually disrespecting a large portion of his potential base.

It is true there are other issues besides abortion that should factor into one's election day calculus, but none are so fundamental as coercing church institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortion inducing drugs. Certainly, these practices claim more human life than any other government misdeed, even war included. The death toll of the unborn from abortifacients and abortion is literally impossible to calculate.

Perhaps most fundamentally, is that the controversial "preventative services" offered by Obamacare are rooted in a worldview that is quintessentially anti-life. Nothing good can come of such a worldview, and its fruits must be rejected outright.

The final reason to reject Obamacare, of course, is that by offering no choice whatsoever to the faithful (ironically, in the name of "choice"), Obamacare tramples underfoot the most critical of our civil rights.

Ultimately, no matter how charismatic may finds the President or how popular some of the provisions of Obamacare are (yes, several provisions are badly needed - but can be achieved through other legislative and policy means) no Catholic should support a plan that is so fundamentally anti-life and anti-freedom, nor should they in good faith support its author.

There is more to Obamacare than meets the eye, and the faithful Catholic would be well served to listen to their Bishops and exercise their conscience and faithful citizenship at the ballot box in November.

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Obamacare, Affordable Care Act, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Roberts, Kennedy, individual mandate, anathema, abortion, sterilizations, abortifacient, Catholics, support

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1 - 10 of 13 Comments

Theresa H
10 months ago
Sadly, many Catholics still prefer Obama!
gfgrosek
10 months ago
Imagine if all the people in the United States were devout followers of Christ. No one would be requesting contraception, sterilization, and abortion inducing drugs. No one would ask for an abortion. Better for people to be motivated by God's love than by laws created by man's government. Christ has instructed his followers to love their neighbor, forgive their enemies and spread the Good News of God's kingdom.
Harry Reyhing
10 months ago
Amen excellent article.All priests and bishops should have courage and encourage their flocks not to vote for the most pro abortion and pro gay agenda president in history.Any "catholic" who votes for a president like this is not a true catholic and I doubt a christian at all.They are a "liberal or cafeteria catholic" who chooses what he likes out of the magisterium or God's word and deliberately ignores the rest.The one blessing in disguise over Obamas hhs mandate and persecution of the church is that it will seperate the weat from the tares in the catholic church.We need a purging and house cleaning badly.
John Mainhart
10 months ago
Law is a reflection of the values of the people making the laws. If you support a man like Obama who has spent more public money than any President before him to assist those who wish to kill the most innocent souls in these United States, and in many other countries, then you can hardly say it has nothing to do with the spirit. What and whom we vote for reflects our belief system. The souls who formed the states in this country knew how important, what the government did would be to the people, so they severely limited the power they gave to the Federal gov't. They knew that power tends to corrupt souls and they didn't want the people to whom they gave power, to use that power to take away life, liberty and pursuit of happiness from the ordinary citizen. In the last half century we have given to the Federal government the power to assist in killing young infants in the womb through large sums of taxpayer money and we have taken God out of the equation so His objective truth is rarely cited when making crucial decisions. Our Supreme Court knows this or should know it, and inspite of this knowledge they gave a President that longs for an extreme amont of power the most widesweeping power ever given in the entire history of this country. If we vote for this man a second time there is very little that is left to restrict him. If you can make people do anything you want by forcing them to pay taxes ,liberty is almost gone.
Rob
10 months ago
I think we have a better shot at addressing our concerns within the framework of the law then chasing our tails trying to repeal. Let's force our elected officials to actually do their jobs and clean up the law.
WDinDallas
10 months ago
Rain --- It was 6 years, the last two years were under a Democratic congress, which passed the first $1+ Trillion deficit.

It went from $484 B to $1.5 Trillion. This has crippled our country under supressive debt and we will end up like Greece.

Though this law has some good aspects, wait until the taxes kick in. This thing creates a huge bureacracy which will further burden our "pivate" citizens to pay for.
DLL
10 months ago
The Catholic Faith is a way of life to be lived in accordance with the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Any one who is not abiding by the teachings of the Catechism are not representing the Catholic Faith and as such become enemies of the Faith. Love is the primary understanding of the Faith as well as a Spirit of forgiveness and tolerance of others. These values are the radical elements of one who is trying to live by the teachings of the Catholic Church. Conversion to the principals of the Catholic Church is a matter of accepting them through the actions of ones own free will. Rejection of any Religious Principal is not a right of government to enforce. Only universally moral principals are the right of any government to uphold. The government is wrong when it attempts to re-write and enforce the teachings that were understood to be universally moral. The government cannot re- invent the meaning of life and death issues,family or marriage issues or the meaning of any religious teaching or the fundamental teachings of any well established instituted Church. Living by faith is a pure matter of conviction as is living ones life in accordance a Faith In God or with the United States Constitution or even as a Patriot. Moral teaching has and always will uphold the Human Rights of every single Human Being as it is the very basis for all law in itself. Immoral teachings,are fundamentally wrong and have proven to be the source of all injustices throughout all time. Obamacare or any proposed healthcare plan must prove itself to be fundamentally moral in its universal application,if not it is the right of those to be affected its rulings,mandates and decrees,to overthrow it and replace it as a bad law.
Brooke
10 months ago
Thank you for your thoughtful, well written piece. With respect, I would like to offer additional information for your consideration. I encourage all to verify my statements through their own research.

You said: Obamacare considers contraceptives, sterilizations, abortifacients, and abortion as "preventative services" under its definition of "health care". The underlying presumption is that pregnancy is a disease. When people pay into the Obamcare scheme, whether as taxpayers or through their insurance, their dollars will be used to finance these procedures, some of which must be provided for free to all women. The people have no choice - the individual mandate means everyone pays.

I’ve read the “preventative services” covered. Contraceptives are indeed covered, however - abortions are not. Since Nixon’s Title X Legislature in 1970, family planning services such as Planned Parenthood have received federal funding. Title X is funded through Congressional Appropriations, Medicaid reimbursements and other federal sources. This is not new under “Obamacare.”

You said: The people have no choice - the individual mandate means everyone pays.

The individual mandate applies to 2-5% of the population. Most of us, 95% to 98% of the population, will NOT be affected by the individual mandate. In Massachusetts, where the individual mandate has existed for years, it affected just 1% of the population in 2010.

You said: Now, even your parish priest must pay for insurance or pay a penalty that will one way or another go into a system that uses his money to fund anti-life procedures. Of course the Bishops of the Catholic church have raised this point on behalf of all Catholics, other Christians and people of good will, but the Obama administration has ignored their pleas.

In response to the concerns of the Catholic Church, modifications were made to the Act. Churches, other houses of worship, and similar organizations are exempt from covering contraception on the basis of their religious objections. Religious organizations do not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer their employees to organizations that provide contraception. Religious organizations are not required to subsidize the cost of contraception. Additionally, the individual mandate does not apply to anyone who “is part of a religion opposed to accepting benefits of a health insurance policy.”

You said: It is true there are other issues besides abortion that should factor into one's election day calculus, but none are so fundamental as coercing church institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortion inducing drugs.

Please see above details on religious exemptions.

You said: The final reason to reject Obamacare, of course, is that by offering no choice whatsoever to the faithful

Please see above details on religious exemptions.

I feel a big part of the general resistance to Obamacare lies in political rhetoric, not in fact. When the layers of the onion are peeled back, I find Obamacare to be of great benefit to the American people, and respectful of religious views.

Thank you for your time.
Rain
10 months ago
All I hear is criticism of Pres. Obama. Why don't you talk aboute right-wing's hatred of Obama, They are guilty of the seven capital sins. What did they do when they had 8 years of power - Nothing.
Diane
10 months ago
tonythomas- What is clearly a spiritual issue-abortion-has been made a political and legal issue by some very evil people. Nice try to take our focus off that fact but it isn't going to work. Obama and Biden will lose and we will push the right to abortion out of politics and the law. I've noticed some tv evangelist trying to make people think that abortion and other evils are ONLY spiritual. Nonsense! We will continue to pray for God's help in changing the legalization of such great evils as abortion and same-sex marriage and we will vote against any politician who is for them. Also it was in great part black and white southern style protestant fundamentalists who elected Obama, the pro abortion pro same sex marriage candidate. Now they don't want to take responsibility by hiding behind some sense of "spiritual". Baloney, if their "ministers" had taught them to vote the truth of scripture instead of making their churches political centers, Obama would never have won. Talk about selling out God for worldly power. Wow!

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