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Abortion has no place in health care bill, bishops' spokeswoman says
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The president of Planned Parenthood confuses authentic health care with access to abortion and all forms of artificial contraception, said Deirdre A. McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications in the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. Responding to a column by Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, that appeared Aug. 18 on the Huffington Post Web site, McQuade said health care reform pending in Congress should provide people with access to basic health care, not services that harm human life. "Fundamentally, abortion is not health care," McQuade told Catholic News Service. "It should not be considered fundamental in any way to any health care reform at the federal or state level. "She's shifting the language around to say universal health care means coverage of every single legal medical procedure. Nobody's proposing that," McQuade said. The bishops have called for any health care legislative measure to remain "abortion neutral," that is, that existing laws and policies governing abortion and abortion funding be preserved. U.S. law does not allow the use of government funds for most abortions.
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