Anti-Catholic bigotry at the Center for American Progress | National Catholic Reporter

Anti-Catholic bigotry at the Center for American Progress | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Actually, in the world of issues, this is a small one and one in no danger of going anywhere. It is coalition moment, as you pointed out - which is exactly what the right to life movement is for the conservative side. CAP joining with the ACLU won't affect the outcome of the case.

A few details do need to be addressed. First, Medicare and Medicaid pay the hospital, not the patient - which is why we have a Hyde Amendment. If the patient got the check, he would be responsible for the entire bill instead of it being paid in full. Relatedly, the equipment is actually paid for by overhead, all of which is funded by public and private reimbusements and other bills - no one fundraises for an MRI or cotton swabs.

You must understand, for a significant minority of people, abortion is just a medical procedure without a second life involved - especially in the first trimester. The rest of us don't agree but most think it is not an earth shattering issue. They are probably right.

Where the Church really gets it wrong are in those cases where the woman does need the procedure - not just when the fetus or embryo is already dead (a normal miscarriage - although the procedure is called an abortion) - but when the pregnancy could kill the mother or when the child is doomed to never be born and an earlier termination - even if by induction - would be healthier than the risk of a later birth. It is at this point that the bishops moan about not playing God, but doctors do that all the time when the prolong life.

Finally, as I said yesterday, the reality is that for late term abortions, the Church has too choices. Allow women to go to abortion clinics that do late term procedures, which are violent, or deliver the baby, baptize it and maybe adopt it out if it is simply a Downs baby. The moral cowardice of the hierarchy does actually result in those procedures which make for such great posters in the March for Life. They could stop these but they won't. Cowards. Abortion, like poverty, will always be with us. The question is how do we want them to happen?