WASHINGTON (ABP) — Thirty-nine pro-life Christian pastors and leaders released a statement Dec. 18 applauding alternative language aimed at preventing health-care reform from being derailed by debate over abortion.
With bill supporters in the Senate lacking a filibuster-proof majority to ensure passage sweeping health-care legislation backed by the Obama administration, Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) proposed compromise language aimed at winning support of anti-abortion Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). He has said he will not support a vote to close debate — requiring 60 votes in the chamber — on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the Senate.
Evangelical leaders including Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, Florida mega-pastor Joel Hunter and Christianity Today Editor David Neff applauded Casey's effort to move debate over health-care beyond abortion.
"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 [insurance] premium dollars from individuals who opt out of abortion coverage will be used to fund abortions," the leaders said.
Baptist signers included David Gushee, a professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University who writes a regular column for Associated Baptist Press, and Glen Stassen, a former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor who now teaches Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary.
The evangelical leaders also welcomed expansion of economic-support measures in the legislation, citing statistics that 73 percent of women who have an abortion say they cannot afford to have a child.
"Given the complicated set of concerns surrounding abortion funding and coverage in health care reform, this alternative language … is a way forward," the leaders said. "We urge all other pro-life people of good will to give it the careful consideration it deserves."
Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said in an e-mail to media outlets that Casey's proposal is "entirely unacceptable" and called it "an exercise in cosmetics."
Republicans prefer language in the House version that includes an amendment by anti-abortion-rights Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), to prevent any plans in the proposed national-health-insurance exchange from receiving federal subsidies if they cover abortion.
Planned Parenthood opposes the Stupak Amendment, saying it reaches further than the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited federal funding of abortion in most instances since 1977.
The Stupak Amendment prevents the government from paying directly for abortions or subsidizing private plans that cover abortions. Individuals could still purchase plans that cover abortion with their own money.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.