copying you on my debate with m.bordallo - continued

[Tim Rohr]

Tim Rohr
T: (671) 777-7647
PO 9001, Agat, GU 96928

Forwarded conversation
Subject: RE: Health Care Reform
------------------------

From: <gu0...@mail.house.gov>
Date: Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 2:39 AM
To: t...@timrohr.com

MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

427 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C.  20515-5301
Phone: (202) 225-1188
Fax: (202) 226-0341

March 25, 2010

 

 

Mr. Timothy Rohr

P.O. Box 9001

Agat, Guam  96928

 

Dear Mr. Rohr,

 

My support for health care reform in general and H.R. 3590 in particular is deeply rooted in my Catholic faith.  The Church's tenets of universal love and compassion demand that we work to make health care affordable and accessible for all and not simply a luxury of the wealthy and privileged.  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops themselves stated in their latest press release that "Christian discipleship means, 'working to ensure that all people have access to what makes them fully human and fosters their human dignity' (United States Catechism for Adults, page 454). Included among those elements is the provision of necessary and appropriate health care." 

 

Beyond the statements of the Bishops are the truly horrifying implications of our current health care system.  The harms of our current system extend well beyond bankruptcy and poverty. A study by the Harvard Medical School, published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health last year, estimated that over 45,000 Americans die unnecessarily each year because they lack health insurance. These are the poor, the weak, and the sick that Christ taught us to love and care for.  My Catholic faith, and indeed my humanity, compels me to help them. 

 

My Catholic faith also teaches me to respect the sanctity of all life, including that which is not yet born.  I disagree with you that H.R. 3590 provides federal financing for abortions.  I will enumerate a number of the bill's provisions to ensure that public funds are not used for abortions.  Section 1303 contains the following special rules:

 

"nothing in this title (or any amendment made by this title), shall be construed to require a qualified health plan to provide coverage of services described in subparagraph (B)(i) or (B)(ii) as part of its essential health benefits for any plan year" 

 

"The Secretary may not determine, in accordance with subparagraph (A)(ii), that the community health insurance option established under section 1323 shall provide coverage of [abortion] as part of benefits"

 

"the State shall assure that no funds flowing through or from the community health insurance option, and no other Federal funds, pay or defray the cost of providing coverage of services described in subparagraph (B)(i). The United States shall not bear the insurance risk for a State's required coverage of [abortion]"

 

"If a qualified health plan provides coverage of [abortion], the issuer of the plan shall not use any amount attributable to any of the following for purposes of paying for such services:

(i) The credit under section 36B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (and the amount (if any) of the advance payment of the credit under section 1412 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act).

(ii) Any cost-sharing reduction under section 1402 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (and the amount (if any) of the advance payment of the reduction under section 1412 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)."

 

"No individual health care provider or health care facility may be discriminated against because of a willingness or an unwillingness, if doing so is contrary to the religious or moral beliefs of the provider or facility, to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions."

 

Section 1303 also contains a blanket protection reaffirming existing federal conscience protection laws:

 

"NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL LAWS REGARDING ABORTION-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to have any effect on Federal laws regarding--

`(i) conscience protection;

`(ii) willingness or refusal to provide abortion; and

`(iii) discrimination on the basis of the willingness or refusal to provide, pay for, cover, or refer for abortion or to provide or participate in training to provide abortion."

 

My reading of this language, along with other pro-life Democrats like Congressman Dale Kildee, has led me to conclude that H.R. 3590 will not lead to federal funding of elective abortions.  The non-partisan Congressional Research Service confirmed this, stating in their report that the Senate bill "would prohibit the subsidies from paying any part of elective abortions."  For this reason, I am able to support H.R. 3590 without reservations as I do not believe that it will promote abortions or change existing federal law. You are correct that President Obama's Executive Order cannot trump statute, but it was a clear sign that this Administration will uphold the law which prohibits the federal funding or financing of elective abortions.

 

H.R. 3590 is a very large bill that will reshape over 1/6th of our economy; as such I understand your concerns about how it may affect abortion coverage.  I will be monitoring the implementation of the bill to ensure that the protections against federal financing of abortion are vigorously enforced and any violations are with dealt with accordingly. 

 

Thank you again for your continued correspondence on this important matter. 

Sincerely,

/s/

MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO
Member of Congress

 
----------
From: Tim Rohr <t...@timrohr.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 3:34 AM
To: gu0...@mail.house.gov

Dear Ms. Bordallo,

 

I appreciate that you are willing to devote time and thought to my inquiries.

 

However, do you not think that if abortion was just one issue amongst many the Bishops themselves would has said what you say here? They would have told us: look, while the bill allows for abortion funding we feel that it addresses other issues that are just as harmful, so we feel that we should support it because it still does a lot of good.

 

They did not, because they could not. Despite all the other supposed benefits of the bill that you list here, when it came down to the wire, they opposed it because of its funding of abortion.

 

You continue to insist that abortion funding is not in the bill. I guess you know better than President Obama since, and I'll say it again, he had to sign an executive order to negate the funding that is in the bill. And, I'll say it again, an executive order that is judicially unenforceable.

 

I guess you also know better than the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and the majority of pro-life leaders in the United States.

 

The essential tenet of all Catholic moral reasoning is that "the ends NEVER justifes the means".

 

Essentially what you are saying is that so long as health care addresses other supposed social injustices, a few more dead babies is just the price we have to pay.

 

Another essential tenet of Catholic moral reasoning is that the defenselessness of the victim determines the moral priority.

 

A person with no health care can at least cry out for help. An unborn child cannot. The unborn child is the most defenseless of all, which is why, when it came down to all the other wonderful Catholic social priorities that this Health Bill is supposed to address, the Bishops still HAD TO SAY NO.

 

I don't blame you for not knowing this. Most Catholics think like you, especially most Catholic politicians as evidenced by your colleagues Biden and Pelosi and those 50,000 nuns.

 

However, Catholicism is not a democracy. The majority does not rule. I'm wondering if you bothered to consult with your own bishop given the severe gravity of this issue.

 

The bottom line is that your support of this bill is in official opposition to the stated position of the official magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church on the issue of abortion, regardless of what you may or not think the bill does.

 

We are looking at introducing a bill on Guam, as are other states, that will prohibit the Health Care bill from paying for abortions on Guam. We will send you a copy of the legislation when it is ready. We will give you a chance to demonstrate publicly your commitment to the sanctity of life.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Tim Rohr

The Esperansa Project

 

 

Tim Rohr
T: (671) 777-7647
PO 9001, Agat, GU 96928

[Ms Maria Tenorio]

Thank you Tim for standing strong.  Please continue the fight.

Tita

---

From: Tim Rohr <t...@timrohr.com>
To: catholicgroup <cathol...@ibosc.com>; LinalaYanEsperansa <LinalaYan...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Fri, March 26, 2010 3:36:24 AM
Subject: [Esperansa 291] copying you on my debate with m.bordallo - continued

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