Catholic Senators vote against 'Conscience Law’
<http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15599>http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15599
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Cardinal Francis George
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Washington D.C., Apr 3, 2009 / 09:13 pm
(<http://www.catholicnewsagency.com>CNA).-
Yesterday, a majority of Catholic Senators
rejected a conscience protection law proposed by
Senator Tom Colburn that would protect health
care workers who object to abortions from participating in the procedure.
Conscience protection has become a topic of
debate after President Obama announced that he
was reviewing the law and could possible
eliminate it. Colburn’s amendment states, "To
protect the freedom of conscience for patients
and the right of health care providers to serve
patients without violating their moral and religious convictions."
The amendment was voted down by a margin of
41-56, in which a majority of Catholic Senators
voted against the amendment 9-16. The failure to
pass this legislation now leaves the door open
for the Obama Administration to rescind the law
by executive order and force health workers to
compromise their moral convictions.
Last month, Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop
of Chicago and President of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), expressed deep
concern that removing the conscience rule would
be "the first step in moving our country from democracy to despotism."
"No government should come between an individual
person and Godthat's what America is supposed to
be about," he commented. "This is the true common ground for us as Americans."
Rockville Center Bishop William F. Murphy,
chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and
Human Development of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB), also commented on the
possibility of conscience laws being revoked
saying,"[it] raises a real issue, because the
statutes are intended to protect human rights –
rights of conscience and rights of freedom of
religion," Bishop Murphy said. "So why should
everyone be concerned about this? Because if one
person's rights can be compromised, everybody's rights can be compromised."
Murphy called on all Catholics to respond
together to protect these basic "human rights,"
"The lay men and women of our churches, of our
parishes and dioceses across the country have to
be the voices of the Catholic Church today. Their
voice is stronger than ours in many instances
because they are the constituents, because they
vote and because the politicians know they need the votes to be re-elected."
Yet, 16 Catholic Senators still voted against the
protection of these "human rights" including:
Begich (D-AK), Dodd (D-CT), Kaufman (D-CT),
Durbin (D-IL), Harkin (D-IA), Landrieu (D- LA),
Collins (R-ME), Mikulski (D-MD), Kerry (D-MA),
McCaskill (D-MO), Menendez (D-NJ), Gillibrand
(D-NY), Reed (D-RI), Leahy (D-VT), Cantwell (D-WA), Murray (D-WA).
The nine Catholic Senators that voted for the
amendment were; Murkowski (R-AK), Martinez
(R-FL), Risch (R-ID), Brownback (R-KS), Bunning
(R-KY), Vitter (R-LA), Johanns(R-NE), Voinovich (R-OH), and Casey (D-PA).
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