CNA: Cardinal Rigali defends conscience protections for pro-life health workers
Catholic News Agency carries a story on a letter written by Cardinal Justin Rigali , Archbishop of Philadelphia and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, to all members of Congress. The story states in part: Cardinal Rigali...wrote the July 18 letter in response to a New York Times article about a draft proposal requiring that any program run or funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must certify that it will not refuse to hire nurses and other healthcare workers who object to abortion and abortifacient contraceptives. News of the proposal prompted criticism from abortion rights supporters. On Friday Sen. Hillary Clinton said the draft was a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult" to women. While noting that he was not specifically responding to the reported proposal, Cardinal Rigali said some of the proposal’s critics had made “sweeping” charges that did not acknowledge the legal tradition of freedom of