Kansas bishops’ reservations about Medicaid are to clarify

The Star’s Friday editorial characterizing Kansas Catholic bishops “not so much ‘pro-life’ as ‘pro-birth’” because of their position in opposition to expanding Medicaid in Kansas was, to put it charitably, disingenuous. Let’s set the record straight.

The Catholic Church is the largest private social service provider the world has ever known. Born or unborn, young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick — we serve life at each and every stage.

The Catholic bishops of Kansas seek health care access for all people, no matter their socioeconomic status. Although it is an imperfect solution, we support and testified in favor of Medicaid expansion.

Like virtually every other interested group or legislator, our position includes provisions we consider critical to the improvement and success of this complex legislation. The laundry list of reservations to Medicaid expansion from all corners is extensive, and those of the Catholic bishops are hardly the most contentious.

Those provisions are: exclusion of Medicaid-paid abortion, inclusion of conscience protections for health care institutions and individuals, and legislative passage of a bill to allow the people of Kansas to vote on a constitutional amendment excluding abortion as a “natural right” under our state constitution. It is with those three conditions that the Catholic bishops of Kansas support Medicaid expansion.

The first and second provisions are unremarkable. Indeed, exclusion of taxpayer-funded abortions under Medicaid is the identical policy position already adopted by the Kansas House of Representatives in an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 90-34 on HB 2066, the Humphries Amendment, in March of this year. So far, so good.

A month later, however, the Kansas Supreme Court issued their notorious ruling in the abortion case Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt. In that decision, six justices discovered, created and established a “natural right” to virtually unlimited and unregulated abortion.

Few realize (and missing from The Star’s reporting) that in its decision, the court relied on four cases involving state funding of abortions, including two which specifically compelled state Medicaid funding of abortion. This clearly signals that the Kansas Supreme Court believes publicly-funded abortion is required by its decision.

Therefore, in order for any legislative restrictions on abortion to be upheld — even those with robust bipartisan support, such as limitations on Medicaid funding, parental notification or clinic licensure standards — Kansas must adopt a state constitutional amendment reversing the Hodes decision and restoring the ability of the people to pass reasonable regulations regarding abortion.

Step one in the process to pass a constitutional amendment is a two-thirds majority vote by legislators allowing the people of Kansas to decide this issue the old-fashioned way, at the ballot box. If it passes the Legislature, the people will vote in 2020.

To their credit, The Star’s editorial board has previously endorsed what the Catholic bishops are asking for: that the Legislature give Kansans a voice on this important issue. That makes it all the more perplexing that the board would now criticize the Catholic bishops for their conditions.

Kansas’ Catholic bishops are simply responding to the new legal situation created by the Supreme Court’s Hodes decision. The bishops didn’t create this roadblock; they’re making every effort to remove it. It is abortion advocates, through legislative efforts and the courts, who insist on inserting abortion into health care policy. The abortion of preborn children is not health care.

No matter what happens in this important debate, you can be sure that the Catholic Church in Kansas will continue doing what we’ve always done: caring for the elderly, advocating for the immigrant, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, educating the disenfranchised and healing the sick.

Chuck Weber is executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference.

This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kansas bishops’ reservations about Medicaid are to clarify."