If bishops carry through on this, will it lead to the repeal of a law designed to force participation in abortion by religious groups and medical professionals morally opposed to the taking of innocent human life?

A proposed bill promising major changes in the U.S. abortion landscape has Roman Catholic bishops threatening to close Catholic hospitals if the Democratic Congress and White House make it law.

The Freedom of Choice Act failed to get out of subcommittee in 2004, but its sponsor is poised to refile it now that former Senate co-sponsor Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office.

A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the legislation "is among the congressman's priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather than later."

FOCA, as the bill is known, would make federal law out of the abortion protections established in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade ruling.

The legislation has some Roman Catholic bishops threatening to shutter the country's 624 Catholic hospitals — including 11 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis — rather than comply.

Speaking in Baltimore in November at the bishops' fall meeting, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a Chicago auxiliary bishop, took up the issue of what to do with Catholic hospitals if FOCA became law. "It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions," he said. "That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil."

Bishop Paprocki is a top-notch canonist with a firm grasp of the nuances of moral theology. He is exactly correct on this point.

But if 13% of all hospitals in the country close down, meaning that the 1/6 of Americans who use them are forced to fall back upon pubic or other private hospitals, that might just force the repeal of a law that is, in part, designed to force hospitals that donÂ’t provide baby-slaying services to do so.

I’ve long urged that Catholic bishops and religious orders (as well as non-Catholic Christian schools) do something similar to move the country forward on the issue of school choice. Simply announce failure to provide students with their fair share of the tax funds designated for their education will result in the closure of their schools – and the resultant flood of these students into the public schools. The shortage of space and increased costs associated with accommodating these students would quickly lead to the public demanding voucher programs for all students as the cheapest and easiest way to deal with the issue. Likewise, the closure of all these hospitals will make the policy choice crystal clear – allow religious groups to operate hospitals in accordance with their religious principles or accept the financial burden that goes along with driving them from the field.

More At Clayton Cramer's Blog, Hot Air. Athanasios Christian Ministries, Southern Appeal

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