Pro-Life Christian Leaders Applaud Sen. Casey’s Alternative Abortion Language
Forty pro-life Christian pastors, leaders and theologians released the following statement Friday morning, December 18, 2009, to applaud Sen. Robert Casey’ proposed alternative language on abortion to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:
As Christian leaders moved by our faith to protect life at all stages, we applaud Sen. Robert Casey’s efforts to ensure that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act prohibits federal funding of abortion, ensures conscience protections, and provides funding for long-needed support for pregnant women and children. We believe that with this direction, Congress is closer than ever to reforming an unjust healthcare system that for too long has cost too much while delivering too little.
Sen. Casey’s alternative language, which we expect to be available in its final legislative form soon, could ensure that strong provider conscience protections passed in the House bill are maintained; no federal funds pay for abortions in any way; and no premium dollars from individuals who opt out of abortion coverage will be used to fund abortions. We also enthusiastically welcome its expansion of the adoption tax credit and new support for children, pregnant women and parenting teens and college students. Given that 73 percent of women who have an abortion cite the fact that they cannot afford to have a child as a contributing factor, these economic support measures are critical to reducing the number of abortions in America, a goal we wholeheartedly support. Expanding health insurance coverage to uninsured women and making it more affordable for millions more will very likely reduce the number of abortions in America as well.
Given the complicated set of concerns surrounding abortion funding and coverage in health care reform, this alternative language, which we understand will be included in the manager’s amendment to the Senate bill, is a way forward. We urge all other pro-life people of good will to give it the careful consideration it deserves.
Signatories*:
Ron Sider
President, Evangelicals for Social Action
Joel Hunter
Senior Pastor, Northland Church
David Neff
Editor, Christianity Today
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez
President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Jim Wallis
President, Sojourners
Simone Campbell, SSS
Executive Director, NETWORK
Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA
President, Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Stephen F. Schneck, PhD
Director, Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies The Catholic University of America
Dr. David P. Gushee
Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University
Dr. Barbara Williams Skinner
President, Skinner Leadership Institute
Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Hale
Senior Pastor, Ray of Hope Christian Church
Brian McLaren
Author, Speaker and Founding Pastor, Cedar Ridge Community Church
James E. Hug, S.J.
President, Center of Concern
Victoria Kovari
Interim Executive Director, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Rev. Richard Cizik
Cheryl Bridges Johns
Professor of Christian Formation & Discipleship, Pentecostal Theological Seminary
Derrick Harkins
Senior Pastor, Nineteenth Street Baptist Church
Rev. Gabriel Salguero
The Latino Leadership Circle
Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M.
Chairperson, Theology Department, Boston College
Glen Stassen
Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary
Stephen J. Pope
Professor of Theological Ethics, Boston College
David DeCosse
Director of Campus Ethics Programs, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
The Hon. Douglas W. Kmiec
M. Shawn Copeland
Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College
Richard R. Gaillardetz
Murray/Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies, University of Toledo
William O’Neill, S.J.
Associate Prof. of Social Ethics, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University
Nancy Dallavalle
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies Fairfield University
Vincent Rougeau
Associate Professor, Notre Dame Law School
J. Matthew Ashley
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Notre Dame
Christine Firer Hinze
Professor, Christian Ethics, Department of Theology, Fordham University
Terrence W. Tilley
Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department Fordham University
Bruce T. Morrill
Associate Professor, Theology Department, Boston College
Todd Whitmore
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, University of Notre Dame
Dennis M. Doyle
Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
Bradford E. Hinze
Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Vincent Miller
Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
Alex Mikulich
Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University New Orleans
Elizabeth Groppe
Associate Professor of Theology, Xavier University
Maria Riley, OP
Senior Advisor, Global Women’s Project, Center of Concern
Bryan N. Massingale
Associate Professor of Theology, Marquette University
Nicholas P. Cafardi
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law, Duquesne University
Paulette Skiba, BVM, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Religious Studies Dept., Clarke College
William L. Portier
Mary Ann Spearin Chair of Catholic Theology, University of Dayton
Anthony J. Godzieba
Associate Professor of Theology & Religious Studies, Villanova University
* All affiliations listed for identification purposes only.
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