Jakubczyk on Life

The health care issue - now what?

With the passage of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the health care bill, the house narrowly passed the entire bill 220-215. The bill is seriously flawed, including from a strictly pro-life perspective and it is a mistake to think that simply because the Stupak amendment was attached, we have dome all we can do. There is still so much that needs to be added to the bill to eliminate any possibility that abortion and euthanasia will be funded or promoted by any federal legislation.

Now for the record, I do not like this bill or any of the Senate versions. I think that the federal government corrupts most of what it touches, be it education, energy policy, you name it. I think that the most effective government efforts are at the local and state levels and that the principle of subsidiarity should apply. Further the private sector, the churches and the public charities should take up the slack as they all are more effective and efficient than government bureaucracies.
But it seems that my voice and opinion are not shared by those in Washington, D.C.

The following Pro-life amendments were voted down in the Senate Finance Committee. However, they should be presented as absolutely necessary to address our minimum concerns as pro-lifers.

Abortion Mandate

Hatch Amdt. #C14 (355): Prohibits authorized or appropriated federal funds under this Mark from being used for elective abortions and plans that cover such abortions.

Enzi Amdt. #12 (426): To ensure that mandates on abortions are prohibited.

Enzi Amdt. #C13 (427): To ensure that abortions are not paid for with federal funds and for the purchase of supplemental abortion coverage without federal funds.

Enzi Amdt. #C14 (428): To ensure state abortion laws and regulations are not preempted by provisions in the underlying bill.

Conscience Protections

Enzi Amdt. #C15 (429): To ensure that conscience protections are applied.

Hatch Amdt. #13 (354): Non-discrimination on abortion and respect for right of conscience.

Physician Assisted Suicide

Hatch Amdt. #C12 (353) [Accepted in Concept]: Prohibits federal funds under this Bill from being used to pay for assisted suicide and offers conscience protections to providers or plans refusing to offer assisted suicide services.

As my friends over at A.U.L.said "The abortion lobby is using health care reform to try to end-run around the Hyde Amendment which has been a thorn in their side. Their ultimate objective is to define abortion as basic health care, which Americans do not support." In fact he latest polls show that the American people not only oppose the health care bills but also supported the ban on use of federal dollars for abortion.

The pro-abortion side intends to strip the bill of the Stupak amendment in conference committee after the Senate does its thing. Whether it ever gets through the Senate will depend on you and me and the 52% of the American people on record opposing socialized medicine. And the Left will argue to remove the ban of abortion funding. But we have other concerns about the bill as we ell.

We are concerned about the cost and the burden it will place on the next generation of taxpayers - our children. We are concerned about the whole end of life emphasis on "end of life" counseling. Now to be candid, if I were giving the end of life counseling, everyone would consider it a good conversation. after all who we are and what we should do in our last days is very important and both relationally and spiritually significant. Words like reconciliation and forgiveness and restoring relationships with loved ones so that love and peace will mark the end of one's life should be the focus of a conversation. Addressing the issues of planning and finances and making sure there are those to care for survivors are essential to the process. But we must always recognize the dignity of the person and his intrinsic worth as a human being.

So we must demand strong conscience provisions for health care providers.

We must make sure there is no push to define our elderly and those disabled as burdens to their family and society.

We should demand that Planned parenthood receive absolutely NO money from this Health care bill or any more money from HHS or the federal government.

Finally we must demand that the Senate respect the citizens of this country and have a fair and open debate on the entire bill- all 1900 plus pages, so that the American people will actually know what the bill states and what the impact will be on the average citizen.

The people deserve nothing less.

posted by Jakubczyk on Life @ 2:39 AM