LEWISTON – Taking his strongest political stand yet, Bishop Richard Malone is calling on Catholics to join him in opposing legislation to publicly fund abortions and to pay for stem cell research.

During Sunday services across Maine, Malone, who has been bishop for five years, urged Catholics to contact their legislators to defeat both initiatives. In his message the so-far moderate bishop used strong words.

Informing Catholics “of these two shockingly offensive legislative initiatives is not nearly enough,” Malone said. “We, you and I, need to turn our outrage over what is being proposed into meaningful action that can reverse the direction of this lethal legislation.”

Rep. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, said Monday night that she’s already received some calls from constituents opposing the abortion bill, which she won’t support. “I don’t feel like we can afford to add anymore benefits to the MaineCare system,” said Craven. “I’m a Catholic. … I am not pro-abortion.”

Gov. John Baldacci, another Catholic, will support the abortion bill, and does favor stem cell research, the governor’s spokesman David Farmer said Monday night.

The Maine Women’s Lobby also supports publicly funded abortions, saying poor women should not be denied abortions covered by other health plans.

The abortion legislation is sponsored by Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport. It proposes to have MaineCare cover the cost of abortions. The federal government does not allow Medicaid to pay for abortions except when the mother’s life is at risk or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

More than 20 other states pay for poor women to have abortions, according to Maine Women’s Lobby.

The other bill, sponsored by Rep. Donald Pilon, D-Saco, is calling for passage of a $20 million bond for stem cell research.

In the bishop’s letter, he said that embryonic stem cell research is “in the eyes of the church among the greatest moral evils of our age. All evils are not equal, and the deliberate taking of human life at a time when it is most vulnerable, whether that be at the cell development stage or during pregnancy, can never be justified,” Malone said.

On abortion: “Maine, sadly, is well known to have some of the most permissive abortion policies in the nation,” the bishop said. The church has condemned “the moral evil of abortion. … This teaching is unchangeable.”

While the Maine Women’s Lobby does not have a stand on stem cell research, it strongly disagrees with the bishop on abortion, said Executive Director Sarah Standiford. Poor women now turn to desperate measures, and should have abortion covered by MaineCare, she said.

Standiford spoke of a 19-year-old woman who had schizophrenia, was homeless, and became pregnant. Her doctor recommended she have an abortion, but it was not covered by MaineCare.

“For us it’s about fairness and equality,” she said. “Maine women, including poor Maine women, have a constitutional protected right to choose. This will ensure all Maine women can have access to reproductive health care options.”

Existing law discriminates against poor women, “and doesn’t belong in Maine,” Standiford said. “We know that Maine people agree.”

Edmond’s bill has 31 sponsors, and in a recent poll 74 percent said the state should stop denying funding abortion coverage to poor women, Standiford said.

Online

Against abortion, stem cell research bills: Maine Bishop Richard Malone is keeping Catholics updated on LD 1402 and LD 1309 at: www.portlanddiocese.net. There’s a link allowing Catholics to contact their state legislators.

For abortion bill: The Maine Women’s Lobby is keeping followers updated at: http://www.mainewomen.org/

To read LD 1309, the abortion bill: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/summary.asp?ID=280024035

To read LD 1402, the stem cell research bill: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/summary.asp?ID=280024165

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