Representative Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island was to meet Thursday with Thomas J. Tobin, the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence, and perhaps start healing a bitter rifft over whether health care legislation now before Congress should restrict abortion coverage.The United States Comference of Catholic Bishops has lobbied forcefully against including federal financing for abortion in the health care legislation, and Bishop Tobin, who has led the Catholic Church in Rhode Island since 2005, has been a vocal participant.
His conflict with Mr. Kennedy - an unusuallu personal example of the pressure Catholic bishops are bringing to bear on the health care debate - started last month, when Mr. Kennedy, a Democrat, in his eigth term, questioned why the church had vowed to fight any health care bill that did not explicitly ban the use of public money for abrotions.
I feel that this subject is quite the touchy one. Indeed abortion is a choice, and no one is forced to have one or not, but I am not quite sure where government should stand on funding for this one. Additionally, it is quite common, and many lower class citizens are bound to receive them; however, I believe this topic is extremely controversial, and may not be solved for quite some time. Essentially, if the health care legislation decides to incorporate abortion funding within the new plan, I believe it will benefit many; yet, will cause quite a bit of uproar. Catholic or not, it can only help, not hurt the American people.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Rep. Kennedy and Bishop in Bitter Rift on Abortion
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