020274 Roman Catholic  groups oppose abortion at health insurance airing

WASHINGTON (AP)

Three Roman Catholic groups stressed their opposition to abortion as the House Ways and Means Committee finished the public address phase of its health insurance hearings Tuesday.

An emphasis on "preventive health care and on mandating a broad set of benefits should not, in our view. include family planning services.

particularly sterilization and abortion procedures as part of those benefits,'' the Catholic groups said in a joint statement to the committee.

Sister Virginia Schwager, director of the U.S. Catholic Conference's health affairs division, Sister Mary Maurita Sengelaub, president 'of' the Catholic Hospital Association, and the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Corcoran. executive director of the National Conference of Catholic Charities said:

''We strongly oppose any program that includes abortion as a method of family planning.
The Congress has prohibited funding abortion as a method of family planning,
and this prohibition must be extended to national health insurance.

Furthermore, the ' v said, "it' the taking of human life through abortive procedures is
sanctioned federally, equally destructive practices -- such as euthanasia and sterilization, particularly of the mentally retarded - will become commonplace in the future, as evidenced by incidents that have been carried out in federally funded programs in
the past. Moreover, public opinion surveys continually show that the-majority of Americans oppose abortion on request."

The committee. which has received a wide range of recommendations from what an aide estimated has been more than 200 witnesses since hearings began April 24, scheduled a June 9 session for testimony from Senate and House members to conclude the entire hearing portion of' its work on this matter.