Healthcare and Abortion

I usually shy away from political commentary on this blog. I have had suggestions to start another with that kind of thing. And I do not want to suggest that there is a "Christian" stand on the overall healthcare debate. I can see both sides of the debate and find myself able to persuasively on both sides. But that assumes that I do not address one subject - abortion. The other day one lawmaker compared the Republicans who oppose federal healthcare to those who opposed overturning slavery before the Civil War. Now, leaving aside the fact that it was the Democrats who opposed overturning slavery at that time, the comparison is specious. Healthcare is not about defining who is and who is not a human being. But abortion is! Those who support abortion on demand have defined "fetuses" as less than human, just like the southerners had defined African Americans as less than human. So for me, the real comparison to slavery is for those who support abortion on demand. And because I support the right of all innocent human life, I can not support any healthcare bill that allows for abortions to be paid for with federal money in any form, even if supposedly it is the "non-federal" dollars that are paying for it. The simple fact is that if a person was not able to afford healthcare without federal dollars, then if the policy they have covers abortion services on demand, then federal dollars are paying for the murder of an innocent human life. Unless and until the Senate includes the amendment the house has adopted that forbids any policy using federal dollars from paying for an elective abortion at all, then I must respectfully, but firmly, oppose that healthcare package. And, since no one in congress cares what I think, I am praying for the National Council of Catholic Bishops to be successful in pushing this. Political? I don't think so. This is moral! This is about Human rights.

Pastor Ken