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Congressmen who backed Stupak amendment support Senate health bill
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two Catholic House members who describe themselves as lifelong supporters of pro-life causes said they are convinced that the Senate-approved health reform legislation headed for a House vote does not expand federal funding of abortion. Reps. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., and Charlie Wilson, D-Ohio, said at a teleconference sponsored by Faith in Public Life that they would vote for the Senate bill. The House vote was expected to take place March 21. Kildee, who as a young man spent six years in a Catholic seminary, said he had "always been pro-life" and had sought the counsel of his priest and "read the Senate abortion prohibition more than dozen times" before making his decision. "I'll be 81 years old this September, and at this point in my life I'm not going to change my mind and start supporting abortion," he said. "I'm not going to risk my eternal salvation." But his stand is in contrast to that of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has said the current Senate language would expand abortion funding in several ways and would require some people to pay a premium that would finance other people's abortions. The bishops have called for a "no" vote on the Senate bill unless changes are made. Wilson said he was "confident that the Senate language upholds my pro-life values" and does not provide any federal funding for abortion. "I've been a pro-life Catholic my entire career," he said in response to a question. "I have proven that and walked that walk. I do not think we are doing anything to hurt our people." Both congressmen were supporters of the abortion language proposed by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and accepted into the House health reform bill. The U.S. bishops have backed that language over what was adopted in the Senate bill, which they say "contains no relevant provision to prevent the direct use of federal funds for elective abortions."
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