September 11, 2009
Bishop Gettelfinger, ICC director urge Ellsworth to support health care reform
Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger and the executive director of the Indiana Catholic Conference, Glenn Tebbe, stop outside the federal building in Evansville Sept. 8 after meeting with Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger and the executive director of the Indiana Catholic Conference, Glenn Tebbe, met Sept. 8 with Rep., Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., on the topic of health care reform.
The half-hour meeting, in the morning of the day Ellsworth returned to Washington, was held at Ellsworth’s office in the Federal Building in downtown Evansville.
Bishop Gettelfinger encouraged the congressman to support health care reform that did not include abortion. Ellsworth said he was in favor of health care reform, but that it remained “a moving target,” subject to many changes before a vote would be held.
Tebbe said after the meeting he was “pleased to see how committed he [Ellsworth] was to our issues about health care,” and that he understood the Catholic positon that abortion is not health care, and that conscience must be protected.
At the meeting, Ellsworth said he was pro-life, and that he would not vote for a bill if he had an inkling that abortion would be in it.
Tebbe said Ellsworth “seemed to have a strong commitment to health care reform, without getting trapped into something contrary to Church principles.”
Tebbe provided a copy of a statement issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which supported “genuine health care reform” that would not be used to mandate abortion coverage in private health plans, expand abortion funding, override state laws that limit or regulate abortion, and endanger existing laws protecting the conscience rights of health care providers.
Tebbe said he was pleased that Ellsworth was “seeking support and advice to make sure the bill does not harm.”
Tebbe also urged Ellsworth to support health care coverage for legal immigrants. Ellsworth had said that he had heard a lot of comments from people who believed that some people in poverty did not deserve coverage, and that immigration was another hot issue.
Ellsworth said he tended to favor an incremental approach to health care reform. He said reform of insurance practices would be a possible place to begin.
In response to a question from Ells-worth about the level of support among Catholics, Bishop Gettelfinger told Ells-worth that he had issued a statement supporting health care reform, which was published in the Message (Aug. 21).
In that statement Bishop Gettelfinger urged Catholics to contact elected officials to “support health care reform that truly respects human life from conception to natural death.”
Furthermore, the bishop’s statement pointed out that “true reform must honor the dignity of each person especially the disenfranchised, the vulnerable and the poor,” and that “Children, legal immigrants and pregnant women, regardless of status, are among the most vulnerable.”