- Contact Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry
on Thursday
- Regarding Health Care for Unborn Children
Massachusetts Catholic Conference
January 28, 2009
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Massachusetts
voters to contact US Senator Ted Kennedy and US Senator John Kerry, deemed key votes, on
the issue of federal health care for unborn children.
The United States Senate is expected to vote as early as Thursday on an
amendment submitted by Senator Orrin Hatch to a bill reauthorizing federal health funds
for children. The Hatch amendment to House
Resolution 2 (passed in the House earlier this month) would codify current regulations
that allow states to use federal grants for children’s health care under a federal
program called the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (commonly referred to as
“S-CHIP”) to include unborn children. “Unborn
child” is defined in both the regulation and in the Hatch amendment as “a member
of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the
womb.”
S-CHIP provides funds for children of parents who do not
qualify for Medicaid. Massachusetts is one of
fourteen states that have taken advantage of the federal “unborn child”
regulation that Senator Hatch wants to codify, and as a result the Commonwealth offers
prenatal medical coverage to unborn children of undocumented immigrants who are otherwise
ineligible for Medicaid. Over 5,500 unborn
children and their mothers received such federally-subsidized care in 2007 under Massachusetts’
“Healthy Start” program. Our
Senators are considered key votes because the last time the “unborn child”
amendment was considered by the US Senate in 2007, they both surprised political experts
by voting for it. The unborn child amendment
was defeated by just one vote. If the Hatch
amendment succeeds this time around, and H.R. 2 becomes law, then the Obama administration
cannot change the federal S-CHIP unborn child regulation.
If the regulation were changed, then Massachusetts would lose all of the
federal funds that enable the Commonwealth to provide care to thousands of pregnant
mothers and their unborn children.
Please call Senator Kennedy’s office at 1-202-224-4543 and
Senator Kerry’s office at 1-202-224-2742 on Thursday and leave with each office the
following or similar message:
“My name is ___ and I am a registered voter in [name of
town], Massachusetts. I am calling to urge the
Senator to again vote in favor of an amendment by Senator Hatch that would preserve the
option of states to provide health care to unborn children under the S-CHIP program. This will help our Commonwealth to continue its
‘Healthy Start’ prenatal care service.”
In the alternative, emails can be sent by clicking on the links
below and filling out the form provided by each Senator’s office. You can copy and paste the message above or
otherwise type a similar message into the comments section of the email form. Follow the directions provided:
Senator Kennedy: http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm
Senator Kerry: http://kerry.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the
Massachusetts Catholic Conference (see contact information below).
Massachusetts Catholic Conference
West End Place, Suite 5
150 Staniford St.
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2511
(v) 617-367-6060
(f) 617-367-2767
(e) staff@macathconf.org
(w) http://www.macathconf.org
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