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Court requires abortion subsidies
Overturns US legislation
In December, in the latest instance of a court-ordered victory for the abortion lobby, a Texas appeals court ruled that women who rely on Medicaid for health care must have their abortions covered by the government program.
The Third Court of Appeals said that while federal law explicitly prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortions (except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger) those federal guidelines deny the rights of poor women, and violate the “equal protection of law” guaranteed by the US Constitution. Men, the court said, do not face similar restrictions for medical procedures. In a 2-1 opinion, Judge Bea Ann Smith wrote that the court had ruled only on the issue of ‘medically necessary’ abortions. “This appeal is not about a woman’s right to have an abortion,” she wrote. However, the court did not explain how a “medical necessity” for abortion would be established. Previous court cases in the United States have established the precedent that an abortion may be deemed a “medical necessity” for virtually any reason, including the “emotional welfare” of the mother.
Contraceptive coverage demanded
Seen as equal opportunity
In another December ruling, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new policy that could change how employer health insurance plans approach the coverage of birth control.
The EEOC, deciding in a case brought by two women against their employers, said that it is against federal law for employers to exclude coverage for contraceptives when “other” preventive treatments, including vaccinations, drugs to control blood pressure, weight-loss medication, preventive dental care, and surgical sterilizations, are covered.
Pro-life groups denounced the decision. “For a government body to introduce a ruling indicating that—in direct contradiction to their own beliefs—employers will have to become unwilling participants in the contraceptive culture—is akin to forcing the NAACP to distribute KKK fliers,” said Father Matthew Habiger of Human Life International. “It is outrageous that any employer should be forced to provide insurance to cover behavior that they find morally objectionable,” he added.
Aid policies under fire
Bishop rips demands for contraception
In a remarkable December homily, Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Virginia, blasted the US government for making aid to impoverished nations contingent on the countries’ willingness to accept US-backed population policies.
Bishop Loverde asked, “How is it that our nation threatens to withhold foreign aid to countries unless they subscribe to an abortion-rights agenda?” The homily, published in the diocese’s Catholic Herald, compared the United States to ancient cultures which practiced human sacrifice. “Mexico in 1531 was . . . one of the most technologically advanced nations in the Western Hemisphere . . . (where) it is estimated that 50,000 people a year, and one out of every five children born, were sacrificed,” the bishop observed.
Bishop Loverde drew further attention to the culture of death in the US, asking, “How is it that a president continually vetoes legislation banning partial-birth abortion? How is it that a child needs parental permission to be given an aspirin at school but can be given the morning-after pill to abort a newly-conceived child without such consent?”
The bishop echoed Pope John Paul II in calling for “ardent evangelizing activity” in order to enter a new “world without abortion, a world where every human is treated as a person from conception until natural death, a world where there is right and wrong and right means following the will of the Father.” He said, “Being pro-life is something which should radiate throughout our entire being, whether at home, in the community, or in the work place. Regardless of what any poll indicates, we must publicly promote the Gospel of Life because that is the right thing to do.”
Back to Catholic World Report February 2001 Table of Contents