By refusing to expand Medicaid coverage to an approximate 35,000 low income Missourians, “pro-life” Republicans in the Missouri Legislature have continued their campaign against the poor, the disenfranchised and the most vulnerable among our citizenry. They have adamantly, and in some cases with vitriol and mean spirited rhetoric, defended their position that stimulus money not be used for this purpose.

Almost weekly in many Catholic churches, we hear outrage from the pulpit on abortion and stem cell research; the Archdiocese sponsors post card campaigns on these issues; there are weekly references in church bulletins encouraging participation in protests in St. Louis or at the state capitol and letter writing and phone campaigns to legislators. Where is the outrage in the churches about this egregious campaign to deny basic health services to the most vulnerable among us? Health care is a human right not a privilege. What makes this doubly despicable is that the money is available, but the Republican controlled legislature refuses to appropriate it.

If we are truly pro-life life we must support and defend human life after birth and not only for fetuses in the womb or cells in a Petri dish. To do otherwise is simply anti-abortion. To a Christian, providing health care coverage to all citizens should be a matter of social justice. Silence on this issue is not acceptable.

Rosalie M. Laune
New Haven