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Catholics for Choice Healthcare Resources

All eyes are on Washington, DC, as Congress continues to debate healthcare reform. Catholics for Choice has been in the thick of it, meeting with members of Congress, working with our colleagues to move the debate forward and providing extensive comment to the media on a host of related issues. Our poll continues to inform the debate, as we work to correct misinformation and provide accurate information about what Catholics really believe about healthcare reform.

Below, please find all of CFC’s resources on healthcare reform:

Abortion & the Bishops: Playing Politics with Women's Lives
Statement on healthcare reform
National Opinion Survey of Catholic Voters
Ad in Politico and The Hill
Ad in the Washington Post
Conscience: Speak Out for Healthcare
Press releases
News features

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Abortion & the Bishops: Playing Politics with Women's Lives

What happens to the separation of church and state when top US Catholic bishops hold health-care reform hostage?

That’s the topic of the cover story in the just-published issue of Ms. Magazine.

Catholics for Choice’s president, Jon O’Brien, answers the question, and takes a closer look at the US bishops’ interventions in healthcare reform—from threatening Members of Congress who vote for women’s rights and health, to using back-room dealing to push strident antichoice legislation through the House and Senate. All the while falsely claiming that they represent the opinions of American Catholics on issues related to women’s rights and health.

Catholics for Choice is the only international prochoice organization that meets the Catholic bishops’ false claims head on and presents the real facts about Catholic support for women’s reproductive health. In this article, Jon O’Brien gives the back story and the true story about Catholics, the bishops, and healthcare reform in the US.

An excerpt is available online and the complete issue is available today on newsstands, or visit www.MsMagazine.com to get your own subscription.

CFC Statement on Healthcare Reform

We Believe in Healthcare Reform

August 2009

Poll

Catholic Voters’ Views on Health Care Reform and Reproductive Health Care Services: A National Opinion Survey of Catholic Voters

September 2009

According to a new poll of Catholic voters carried out by Belden Russonello and Stewart for Catholics for Choice, Catholics support healthcare reform and support a plan that would include funding for abortion. The vast majority of those polled, 84 percent, attend church regularly, from several times a week to a few times a year. The results show that the views of Catholics have been seriously misrepresented by the US bishops and by conservative Catholics in the debate over healthcare reform.

Read a one-page summary of the poll (PDF)

Read the entire poll with detailed findings (PDF)

Ad in Politico and The Hill

Read our ad in Politico and The Hill

January 21, 2010

When Bart Stupak inserted the US Catholic bishops' antiabortion amendment into healthcare reform legislation, he put the demands of the bishops' lobbyists over the needs of women and the interests of the voters.

Ad in the Washington Post

Click here to read our ad.

December 2, 2009

If the Catholic bishops have their way, many medical treatments and preventative measures we take for granted may be under threat. The pressure that the US bishops have brought to bear on the debate over healthcare reform has been widely reported. An ad in the Washington Post warns of the likely impact if that pressure to influence healthcare policy is not curtailed.

Conscience: Speak Out for Healthcare

In the lead article in the latest issue of Conscience, CFC president Jon O'Brien and vice president Sara Morello reflect on the healthcare debate in light of these poll figures, alongside a lengthy explanation of results.

CFC is now featuring a new, interactive online version of Conscience. Click here or on the icon above to view all of the enhanced features.

Press Releases

Healthcare Reform: One Step Forward for America; One Step Back for Women's Rights

March 21, 2010

American Catholics Want Bishops Out of Healthcare Reform

March 5, 2010

In Taking a Lead from the Bishops, Democratic Leadership Is out of Step with Voters

January 6, 2010

Catholics for Choice Statement on Healthcare Reform Package

December 19, 2009

Senator Ben Nelson Puts US Bishops' Interests Ahead of Americans' Healthcare Needs

December 7, 2009