"It must include immigrants, especially legal immigrants, but all immigrants," Gomez told 1200 WOAI news. "We are concerned about the immigrants," Gomez said. "The immigrants are human persons too, and one way or another, they are going to need health care. I think it is important to recognize that, and be open to them participating one way or another in the health care system in this country."
One Republican commenter on FaceBook reacted to the news by spitting back "But the Democrats don't listen to the Catholic Church regarding human life..."
To which I would respond that beyond the disagreement over abortion rights, Democrats are much more in line with the Catholic Church's "pro-life" agenda than Republicans are. The church's position on war, foreign policy, foreign aid, health care, immigration, capital punishment and much more is closer to the Democratic side than the Republican one.
It is just that Democrats do not favor criminalizing abortion because rather than stopping abotions it would just send them underground and result in the deaths and maiming of thousands of women on top of the number of abortions that would still occur. So safe, rare and legal is the best way to go as far as reducing the number of abortions is concerned and a little more help in spreading the family planning message and birth control would go along way in that direction as well.
But I certainly welcom Archbishop Gomez to the cause of promoting universal health insurance and I endorse his view that immigrants, both legal and illegal, should be included as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment