My church is on the warpath over Freedom of Choice Act

[TheFarseer]

Does anyone know about this? Why is this being brought up? Our priest did a 20 minute rant about the Freedom of Choice Act and how it would force doctors to perform abortions and shut down all Catholic hospitals. We also got mailed a brochure that assured us Obama said this was his top priority. I get sick of hearing about this crap at family gatherings. What the hell is the deal with this?

[SidDithers]

1. I'd be finding a new church...

or better yet, no church at all, if I were you.

Sid

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. perfect response.

[Ernesto]

17. Skip the superstition.... get real NT

[Countdown_3_2_1]

2. The deal is,

It would force catholic run hospitals to perform abortions. There would be no exclusions for religious run institutions. Catholics have said they will close their hospitals before they would do such a thing.

It wouldn't take much to amend the law, and i expect an exception will be made for the Catholics before the bill goes to President Obama.

[JerseygirlCT]

5. If they want to receive gov't funding, then they ought to be required

to offer all the medical care needed to their patients.

If their morals are so important, they can depend on private funding.

I'm more concerned with the implications wrt emergency contraception and care for rape victims. After some wrestling, my state's Catholic hospitals backed down and (big of them) will offer rape victims the care they need.

It really ought to be like anything else: take gov't funding, abide by the rules that insure equal treatment for all. Want to discriminate, then fund yourself.

[CC]

6. Catholic Hospitals already perform abortions...

they just called it inducing labor early. Might only be when considered medically necessary but it is done and on a regular basis. The hypocrisy, it reeks.

[LeftyMom]

7. In the unlikely event that were true, it would be great.

Unfortunately in many communities women have no other health care options. My mother didn't get the tubal ligation she wanted because her doctor switched his hospital affiliation to a Catholic hospital in the middle of her pregnancy. So instead she was stuck taking hormonal birth control for many years longer, and since she has a blood clotting disorder that was very risky for her. But the hospital had a policy, and was perfectly willing to risk my mother's health (and risk orphaning my sister and I) rather than allow a woman who had no intention of having any more children either way to have a ligation under their roof.

If Catholic organizations aren't willing to put patient needs ahead of ideology they need to get into another business.

[47of74]

3. Find another parish

I'd find another parish. There are plenty of parishes out there who don't do this crap, and pastors who don't spend their days twisting every last bible verse to benefit Republicans.

[CatholicEdHead]

19. This priest is bucking for a future promotion to Bishop with talk like this

You do not hear it from the pulpit around here, it would turn so many people off to be presented in that way.

[JerseygirlCT]

4. Unadulterated nonsense.

That priest is either an idiot, or a liar.

[Mz Pip]

9. Here's the actual text

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2020:

What the anti-choice crowd does not seem to get is that if the government can impose laws regarding whether or not a woman has an abortion, there is nothing saying that somewhere down the line the government can't impose laws stating a woman must have an abortion.

The point is keeping the government out of these decisions. Look at China. Their government has forced abortion. Just because the political climate is such that the anti-choice crowd wants government involvement in reproductive rights, there is nothing to prevent that involvement from forcing a woman to have an abortion.

Government interference can go both ways. The anti-choice crowd should really think about this if they want the government involved.

[OhioBlue]

10. Well... what I don't understand is

who would go to a Catholic Hospital for an abortion anyway? Wouldn't it only be those that have medical emergencies? And if that is indeed the case, do Catholic hospitals currently not provide those life saving measures? Do they transport the patient? If it is an ectopic or PROM pregnancy what do they do?

I admit - I don't fully understand the issue. As I understand FOCA it codifies roe v wade and rolls back the ban on late term abortion. Which I never understood that ban anyway - aren't late term abortions only performed when medically necessary? If so, why would anyone want to ban it?

[davidinalameda]

13. sometimes it's the only available hospital around

[OhioBlue]

14. I understand - what I should have said is who goes to a

hospital anyway? Do people in other States? Don't you only go to a clinic for an abortion and not a hospital? I'm truly asking an honest question.

[crim son]

11. I'm pretty sure it will come down to funding.

A private hospital with its own source of revenue can probably refuse to perform certain services. A publicly funded one wouldn't get away with that. I know that the private Catholic hospital here does not accept DNR as a choice in the case of very severe disease or injury... dunno about abortion. But will I have anything done in that hospital, ever again? No. No way.

[Lint Head]

12. The 'deal with this' is theocratic fascism.

:dem:

[pinto]

15. Freedom of Choice Act (via Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Choice_Act

[pinto]

16. Don't know where it is now, legislatively, but was proposed in 2007.

:shrug:

[Skittles]

18. it's just the usual hysterical religious garbage

[VPStoltz]

20. This is the Republican form of PC.

Where will they stop?
I'm sure I can count of the Reich to allow me not to present a Veterans Day program because I am a pacifist.
Or maybe to not pay my portion of the military budget for the same reason.

I'll be a member of the BlueManGroup by then.