Camden, N.J., Sep 5, 2009 / 13:25 pm
The bishops of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey have urged the state’s congressmen to remember that health care should protect the most vulnerable in society, asked them to work to prohibit the funding of abortion and to uphold conscience protections for those in health care.
The letter, dated August 26, was sent to Representatives Frank LoBiondo (R), John Adler (D) and Robert Andrews (D) by Bishop Joseph Galante of Camden and Bishop John M. Smith of Trenton. The bishops wrote that the reform of health care is a “vital national obligation” and a right that “should not depend on where your parents work, where you live, where you were born or how old you are.”
At the same time, the bishops stated, health care reform must be “fair and just.”
Catholic tradition, they continued, emphasizes that the “moral measure” of health care is the impact it has on the weakest in society: “babies in their mother’s womb, and the very sick and old at the end of life, those without access and power.”
Though the bishops said that health care reform is needed, they also explained that they cannot support it if it takes away conscience protections or policies that prohibit the government funding of abortion.