Congress Hears from Diverse Christian Leaders on Healthcare and Abortion

With the healthcare reform bill tangling by a thread, a couple dozen moderate and liberal Christian leaders have sent a letter to Congress and their message is pretty simple: the language on abortion will do just fine so just vote for the bill!

Millions of conservative Evangelicals would beg to differ with their conclusions but because The Brody File always listens to both sides of a debate without further adieu I give you some of the full letter to Congress.

Read the whole letter here including the Christian leaders who signed the letter and the abortion related provisions in the bill that they say is good enough for them.

Dear Member of Congress,

As Christians committed to a consistent ethic of life, and deeply concerned with the health and well-being of all people, we want to see health care reform enacted. Our nation has a rare and historic opportunity to expand coverage to tens of millions of people, make coverage more affordable for all families, and crack down on many of the most harmful practices of the health insurance industry.

We are writing because of our concern about the lack of clear and accurate information regarding abortion provisions in the health care reform bill passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009.

Reforming our health care system is necessarily complex, and the provisions related to abortion, or any other issue, require careful examination of the facts as they exist in the legislative language. We believe that the provisions below provide extensive evidence that longstanding restrictions on federal funding of abortion have been maintained. Furthermore, this bill provides new and important supports for vulnerable pregnant women.

We are now at a critical moment in the history of our country. More than 30 million Americans may finally gain access to a health care system that is affordable -- providing families, children and seniors with fundamental care that is essential to human dignity. We respectfully ask that you make an informed decision about this legislation based on careful deliberation guided by facts.