‘Two Areas of Concern in the Health Care Bill’

Christian author and spokeswoman Joni Eareckson Tada offers two non-negotiables in the health care debate in this sage piece. It begins:

“A few years ago, I helped write a book, How to Be a Christian in a Brave New World, about the bioethical challenges in the 21st century. Today, one of our foremost ethical challenges is how to accomplish health care reform in a way that respects most Americans’ traditional religious values.

“As a quadriplegic for the past 43 years, I have had more than my fair share of doctors’ visits and medical treatments. I know the difference between good care and bad care, and I can tell when a physician has my best interests at heart. I am thankful that, for the most part, my doctors have always treated me as the individual I am rather than just another patient in a wheelchair.

“For these reasons — my faith and my experience with medical care — I am very concerned about two specific items that currently exist in proposed health care legislation:
– Federal funding of abortions
– Rationing of care.”

I think she is spot on in this and the rest of her piece, which you read here at a link I found on Christianity Today‘s main website.

Her book, How to Be a Christian in a Brave New World, by the way, is one of the clearest, most concise ethical guides for Christians I have ever read. It covers hot topics like abortion, cloning, birth control, in vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, and uses the lens of the Christian view of the world to guide the reader. I highly recommend it, as well as any of her writings.