To the editor:
The bishops are right to protest President Obama’s forcing abortion inducing drugs onto Catholic institutions as part of health-insurance requirements.
Our vote determines in large part the religious freedoms we enjoy. Many Catholics who voted for President Obama and Governor Cuomo should not be surprised at their disregard for basic religious freedoms that that people of faith have always enjoyed. Perhaps the Catholic press could have done a better job educating us on their anti-Catholic views.
The issue is broader than contraception because the president’s new rule also forces Catholic employers to pay for abortion-inducing drugs: "emergency contraception," Plan B, the "Morning After Pill." The Pontifical Academy for Life states that these drugs cause a "chemical abortion." Brown University professor and physician Ralph Miech ( August 3, 1998, Providence Journal) states: "This type of pill causes an abortion … [it] should be called an ‘abortion-after pill’."
Governor Cuomo’s "Reproductive Health Act" (A.6112/S.2844) provides no religious exemptions in the bill itself and allows abortions after 24 weeks — currently a crime — and legalizes abortions of unborn children hours from being born! It also repeals the law which makes the killing of a pregnant female a homicide against her unborn child (§6/7 of A. 6122). These radical anti-Catholic ideas come from a governor who claims to be Catholic and yet glorifies gay marriage and abortion.
Elections can change policies. Catholics should not be voting for those who support these anti-Catholic policies. Ask Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and local representative Kathy Hochul to change their positions on these issues — both are running for re-election this November.
Let not Catholics fall victim to the old canard: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
James Gelormini
Rochester
