Family Planning Advocates and Clergy for Choice Combat Attacks on Health Care Reform as House Vote Nears

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M. Tracey Brooks photo

• Rabbi Dennis Ross

ALBANY, NY (11/05/2009)(readMedia)-- With a vote on health care reform expected in the U.S. House of Representatives this Saturday, Family Planning Advocates of New York State (FPA) and Concerned Clergy for Choice (CCC) today called on New Yorkers to reach out to leaders in Washington, D.C. urging them to oppose further restrictions on abortion in reform.

"Since the beginning of health care reform, we have known that every group opposed to a woman's right to choose would pull out all the stops to bring the progress we have made in health care reform to a grinding halt," said FPA President and CEO M. Tracey Brooks. "President Obama has repeatedly stated that 'no one' should lose the coverage she or he currently has under health care reform. But, if we do not fight back against this threat, women will lose their comprehensive benefits, plain and simple."

The U. S. House of Representatives health care reform bill contains compromise language that allows women to keep the benefits they currently have while also ensuring that no federal funding is used for abortions, according to Brooks.

"Now that the bills are going to the floor, anti-abortion groups, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, are working overtime to ensure that women are denied the comprehensive health care they currently have," said Rabbi Dennis Ross, director of the statewide, 1000-member Concerned Clergy for Choice. "We must not allow health care reform to be derailed by groups that simply want to use it as a platform for undermining a woman's right to choose. Congress must refuse to allow the faith of some to be established as policy for all," he said.

"These groups are trying to accomplish through health care reform what they have not been able to accomplish through the courts and state legislatures since abortion became legal in the United States more than 36 years ago," Brooks stated.

This is a critical time for health care reform with an expected House vote two days away. "We want to ensure that religious anti-choice voices are not the only voices Congressional offices hear," Ross said. "We're letting Congress know that there is just one way to respect our nation's rich diversity in religious belief and conscience. We will safeguard the moral integrity of health care coverage only by standing up to those who would exploit reform as an opportunity to impose their restrictive religious teachings on us all," Ross explained.

"New Yorkers, the vast majority of whom support a woman's right to choose, must take action today, before the expected House vote on Saturday," Brooks and Ross urged. "Tell your Congressional Representatives to respect the diversity of religious beliefs and oppose further restrictions on abortion in health care reform," Brooks concluded.

Brooks directed supporters to the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 and to Representatives' email addresses at www.house.gov/writerep/. "Call or write asking your Representative to oppose further restrictions on abortion in health care reform. Fill their inboxes and voice mail in support of women's health care." she urged.

More than 45,000 Americans have already taken action at http://tinyurl.com/ppact09

Family Planning Advocates of New York State is a non-profit, statewide organization dedicated to protecting and expanding access to a full range of reproductive health care services. It represents New York's Planned Parenthood affiliates and other family planning centers, as well as hundreds of organizations and thousands of individual members.

Concerned Clergy for Choice, a statewide network of more than 1000 religious leaders from many denominations, is dedicated to protecting and expanding access to a full range of reproductive health services. By raising critically needed voices of religious authority, Concerned Clergy for Choice honors a longstanding American role of clergy advocacy for contraception, abortion, sex education, women's health, and equity in health care as a matter of social justice.