Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Go Ahead, Make My Day...

As to the possibility of FOCA passing, a couple of Bishops comment.

A Catholic bishop in Virginia says he would urge Catholic hospitals to ignore the so-called Freedom of Choice Act if Barack Obama signs it into law. The FOCA bill has been the subject of controversy because it could force Catholic and other private hospitals to do abortions.

...“I would say, ‘Yeah, I'm not going to close the hospital, you're going to arrest me, go right ahead. You'll have to drag me out, go right ahead. I'm not closing this hospital, we will not perform abortions, and you can go take a flying leap,'" he said, according to a CNS News report.

Meanwhile, in Chicago:

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago spoke up about the threats to Catholic health care under the bill.

“It could mean discontinuing obstetrics in our hospitals, and we may need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our Catholic hospitals entirely,” Paprocki said. “It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions. That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil.”

“I do not think I'm being alarmist in considering such drastic steps,” he said. “We need to respond in a morally appropriate, responsible fashion.”

Covenant is the Catholic-sponsored hospital system in Milwaukee...

HT: Caveman

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hooray for the bishops and I hope they stick to their guns. But FOCA is much more far-reaching than forcing doctors and hospitals to perform abortions. It would invalidate ANY law that in any way regulates abortion or is viewed as restricting abortion. That means partial-birth abortion would be legal again...laws requiring parental consent or notification prior to a minor's abortion would be thrown out..laws protecting taxpayers from funding abortion here and overseas would no longer apply and many other laws that have been in place and have resulted in fewer babies being destroyed. But worst of all would be that under FOCA, no future protective laws could be passed. Abortion would be completely unfettered!
It will take far more than just the bishops standing up to defeat FOCA. Every person who believes in the sanctity of human life must take action. Americans United for Life in Chicago (aul.org) and Wisconsin Right to Life (wrtl.org) both have excellent Stop FOCA webpages where people can go and find out what they can do to stop this disastrous measure.