By the narrowest of votes, the US Senate passed a deeply flawed health care reform bill on December 24th. 

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had urged the Senate to include language reaffirming the longstanding policy against using federal funds for elective abortion coverage similar to that passed by the House of Representatives.

In a letter to all Senators, the U.S. Bishops asked the Senate to do the following:

• keep in place current federal law on abortion funding and conscience protections on abortion;
• protect the access to health care that immigrants currently have and remove current barriers to access; and
• include strong provisions for adequate affordability and coverage standards.

Now that the Senate has passed a bill, a committee of members from the House and Senate will prepare a compromise bill to be submitted to each chamber. The USCCB has stressed the importance of including a provision against federal abortion funding in any final bill sent to President Obama.

The Catholic Church teaches that health care is a basic human right, and the USCCB is a long-time supporter of health care reform that provides accessible and affordable health care for all.