NEW YORK, July 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As Obama is feverishly pushing a healthcare bill that not only promises abortion coverage from every taxpayer, but also threatens conscience protection for healthcare workers, Catholic League president Bill Donohue says relations between President Barack Obama and Catholics are at a critical juncture.
“Exactly two weeks ago today, President Obama met with some Catholic journalists, telling them, 'I don't know any circumstances in which abortion is a happy circumstance or decision,'” said Donohue. “This begs the question: Why are his surrogates in the Democratic party pushing to make the public pay for a procedure that always makes women (and children) so unhappy?”
Donohue noted that amendments offered by Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Mike Enzi that would have prohibited the public funding of abortion in the healthcare bill were struck down, “all to the applause of the Obama administration.”
“Something has got to give. If abortion is bad, then it makes no sense to subsidize it,” said Donohue. “After all, there is a reason why we don't subsidize air or water pollution.”
In addition, said Donohue, Obama appears not to be keeping his famed pledge at Notre Dame for a “sensible conscience clause” to “honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion”:
“This begs the question: Why are his surrogates in the Democratic party pushing to kill conscience rights? To be exact, yesterday the Democrats killed an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn to provide conscience-rights protections for health care workers.
“This is break point for Obama and Catholics. The president either means what he says when he talks to Catholics, or he doesn't.”