Pro-Life Health Care Agenda Proposes Seven Principles to Reform U.S. System
The article discusses a pro-life health-care agenda in the United States, contextualized within ongoing debates over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and health-care reform efforts. It highlights widespread bipartisan concerns about the current U.S. health-care system's cost and accessibility challenges, noting that over 40% of Americans face difficulties paying for health care. The ACA is critiqued as an impediment to pro-life objectives, notably due to provisions seen as enabling abortion funding and impacting religious freedom and family structures. The article argues for a pro-life health-care system informed by Catholic social teaching, particularly principles outlined in Pope St. John Paul II's 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, emphasizing human dignity and the common good. It proposes seven policy principles for building such a system: 1) Defunding abortion at all government levels, including chemical abortion; 2) Strengthening conscience protections legally for medical professionals; 3) Expanding civil rights protections against health-care discrimination for vulnerable patients; 4) Providing financial support through refundable tax credits or similar mechanisms to enable low-income Americans to access life-affirming health plans without abortion funding; 5) Supporting pro-life hospitals, pregnancy centers, and faith-based health entities with legal and regulatory reforms; 6) Promoting patient-centered care as a cost-reduction strategy; and 7) Opposing socialized medicine models that expand abortion and euthanasia rights, citing examples from Canada and Europe. The commentary emphasizes legislative and regulatory frameworks to protect religious freedom in health care, advocates for equal opportunities for faith-based providers, and calls for government incentives for pro-life primary and mental health care. It situates the pro-life health-care movement as a means to defend unborn life, support pregnant mothers, and safeguard vulnerable populations such as the disabled and elderly from euthanasia. The article concludes that the pro-life movement and faith-based communities should actively pursue policy reforms to establish a distinct health-care system aligned with these principles in the post-Dobbs legal landscape.