US Conference of Catholic Bishops wish to test their irrelevancy

[BootinUp]

by opposing the health care bill.

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"No one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion," the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a letter Thursday to members of Congress.

The letter follows a recent Senate Finance Committee vote that defeated Republican amendments that Democrats said would broaden current restrictions of federal funding for abortion.

The amendments were introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. They sought to explicitly state that the current ban on federal funding for abortions would apply to all aspects of health insurance in the bill and prohibit the government at any level from forcing hospitals, doctors and other health care providers to perform abortions.

Federal law allows government funding for abortions only in the cases of rape, incest or danger to a mother's health.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/08/health.care.catholics/index.html