Over the course of the 2008 election cycle the Catholic Bishops have spoken out against distortions of Catholic Church teachings by high level pro-abortion politicians like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice-President-elect Joe Biden. Last week the Catholic Bishops of the United States issued a strong statement in defense of the dignity of human life.   

The Bishops opened their most recent statement with congratulations for President-elect Barack Obama on his historic victory, but they quickly went to business stating in no uncertain terms that “The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all.”

The Bishops pledged to fight the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) “early and often.” The Freedom of Choice Act is radical legislation that would roll back commonsense abortion restrictions like bans on taxpayer funding, parental consent measures, and even federal and state bans on gruesome partial birth abortion. Obama told Planned Parenthood that it would be his first legislative priority as President.

In response to the threat of FOCA, Cardinal Francis George declared on behalf of all American bishops, “The danger the Bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.”

The Catholic bishops are particularly concerned that FOCA will endanger the rights of religious hospitals to refuse to perform an abortion. If the hospitals were forced to perform abortions, the Bishops would be compelled by their consciences to close or sell the Catholic hospitals under their control.

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air.com reminds us that, “The Catholic Church is one of the nation’s biggest health-care providers:

In 2007, they ran 557 hospitals that serviced over 83 million patients. The church also had 417 clinics that saw over seven million patients.  If they shut down almost a thousand hospitals and clinics nationwide, the US would not just lose a significant portion of available health care, but the poor and working-class families that received the health care would have fewer options.

In short, in the eyes of the Catholic bishops FOCA would not only have disastrous moral effects, but it would also have disastrous social and economic effects.

In closing the bishops remind us to pray for President-elect Obama and to remember the admonition from the Psalm 127, “’If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil.’ (Psalm 127, vs. 1)”