Will the Bishops Blast the Baucus Bill?

Called the Roadmap for America's Future Act, the new bill was supposed to be a compromise piece of legislation, but their was obviously no compromise on abortion funding.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inside Catholic) - We coming to the fork in the road of the health care debate. The new health care bill proposed today by Sen. Max Baucus "contains an array of pro-abortion mandates and federal subsidies for elective abortion," according to Doug Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life.

Called the Roadmap for America's Future Act, the new bill was supposed to be a compromise piece of legislation, but their was obviously no compromise on abortion funding. According to Johnson,

"The bill contains provisions that would send massive federal subsidies directly to both private insurance plans and government-chartered cooperatives that pay for elective abortion," Johnson explains.

"This would be a drastic break from longstanding federal policy, under which federal funds do not pay for elective abortions or subsidize health plans that cover elective abortions." (Read the complete story at LifeNews.com.)

In other words, once again Obama's pledge that health care reform does not include abortion coverage is far from the truth, to put it nicely.

But, as Bill Donohue has reminded us, the president has a chance to make good on his promise -- all he has to do is publicly support an amendment to bar federal funding of abortion in any new health care legislation.

As Donohue explains, another attempt at such an amendment has just been introduced:

"Now an amendment that would bar abortion funding from H.R. 3200 has been drafted by Congressmen Bart Stupak and Joe Pitts. On September 10, they sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Chairwoman of the Rules Committee, asking that they allow all members of the U.S. House of Representatives 'the right to vote their conscience' on this amendment."

As Donohue puts it, "Obama must back it."

Both the Baucus bill and the Stupak/Pitts amendment offer the USCCB an opportunity to get itself off the hook in the health care debate. The USCCB can issue a statement about its disappointment in the the Baucus bill and urge the president to back the Stupak/Pitts amendment.

Right now, the USCCB is hoping the Obama administration will honor its promise. That's fine and good, but are they willing to use their muscle? We will see.

Now is an excellent opportunity for the USCCB to take a leadership role in the debate instead of looking like it does now, like the only guys in town who don't get the joke.

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