October 13, 2008 - Last week's NY Times article shows insists that there is "dissent" in the church about the bishops stand, and the church is divided.

On one side, the bishops and 2000 years of moral teaching.

On the other side, the progressive nuns and priests who want to remake the church into a way to promote the "catholic social agenda", a political agenda where the government supplies all the needs for people, from cradle to grave.

Yet such programs are expensive, placing a heavy tax burden on working families and ignore the idea that social problems are best cared for by local institutions: The family, the church, and the local community.

Ah, but doesn't supporting the candidate of hope who promises federal welfare programs outweigh the problem that he supports abortion? After all, such welfare programs will lower the number of abortions...

Not true, on many levels. And what makes it worse is that this type of thinking has contributed to the lack of pro life candidates in the Democratic party.

I'm old enough to remember when there used to be a lot of pro life Democrats, from John Kerry to Bill Clinton to Al Gore. They all changed their positions on the abortion question, not for moral reasons, but for one simple reason: because the Catholics stopped their active opposition to abortion on a political level for fear of religious ridicule, but the pro abortion types remained militant and well funded.

So they quickly learned: support abortion, and you get lots of campaign funds from progressive and pro abortion organizations. Oppose abortion, and you probably will face a well funded opponent in the primaries and be replaced.

Ah, but only Democrats will supply money so women can carry their pregnancy to term.

But I'm a doctor, and am puzzled by that argument.

The fact is that women who are pregnant and earn less than a set amount are already allowed to get their medical bills paid under Medicaid, and in 40 states, the income levels for who can get coverage is even higher. Medicaid also covers indigent children without health insurance.

Well, what about free medical care for all. Isn't medical care a "right"?

No, it's a responsibility.

And what do you mean by "right"? Do you have a right to birth control pills? To Viagra? To plastic surgery? to fixing your sore knee? To taking off those warts? to getting braces on your kid?

The list is endless...

There is indeed a need for "catastrophic medical insurance" to cover, say, a cardiac bypass on someone between jobs who lost their insurance. But making medical care a "right" has lots of problems, as anyone who has ever worked in the existing federal or state medical systems can relate.

Having worked in government clinics, I know there is a danger that the budget will become more important than the patient.

But if the government takes over health care, the real worry is that these same progressives will be imposing medical standards on Catholic hospitals and physicians.

Many progressives are angry that Catholic hospitals won't cooperate with abortion and sterilization, and that a recent memo by the Bush administration has mandated that doctors, nurses and pharmacists will not be punished if they refuse to cooperate with medical procedures that go against their consciences.

Look for the morning after Pill to be mandated first, followed by sterilization mandates. (some states already mandate these abortifactant medicines be given in their emergency rooms).

This again is not a Catholic issue: Many Muslim doctors refuse to do abortions or give the "morning after pill"..

And expect government to give lots of money into embryonic stem cell research, even though scientific breakthroughs last year have made use of such cells unnecessary.

And expect the recent mandates by the Bush administration that protect the jobs of those refusing to cooperate with procedures or giving medicines that they oppose for religious reasons to go next. This probably will cover not only birth control, but the morning after pill, the abortion pill, and prescriptions for assisted suicide...

You see, there are many levels on which a President can promote abortion and the culture of death with little publicity.

And none of them are being discussed, not even in the Catholic press.



Nancy Reyes is a retired doctor living in the Phillipines. She is the author of a number of blogs including Finest Kind Clinic and Fishmarket.

Other Recent Stories: A.L.L. Stands Vigil As Bishops Fail To... Faithful Catholics Finding a Voice... The Culture of Death Under an Obama... Major Media Message to Catholic... All Hallows Eve In The Catholic Tradition	Post a comment Name * Email * Comment Enter letters from picture * * You must fill the fields marked with a red asterisk.