title:  Catholic Sister Rips ‘Pro-Life’ Republicans Over Devastating Medicaid Cuts
text: Republicans who call themselves  pro-life  are presenting a health care plan that would literally kill tens of thousands of people by implementing devastating cuts to Medicaid and Sister Simone Campbell, leader of the advocacy group Nuns on a Bus, is wondering how GOPers can give themselves that moniker while putting our most needy, including the elderly and children, at risk.Campbell called the Affordable Care Act a  life-saving bill  and in an op-ed for The Hill she said she wants to call their bluff on their proclaimed pro-life stance. I am outraged to see allegedly pro-life Republicans put forward a healthcare bill that will strip millions of people of their healthcare. Not only that, but this bill preys on the most vulnerable! This is antithetical to any faith,  she writes.  The House and Senate healthcare proposals are the antithesis of a pro-life stance and needs to be named as such. People will lose their lives if this bill becomes law. Then the Sister hit Republicans where it hurts: with facts. It used to be very difficult for women to find insurance coverage for pre-natal and maternity care. Under current law, maternal health (pregnancy and postpartum services) is an essential benefit, which insurers must offer without charging extra,  she continued.  This is a pro-life benefit   but the GOP is set to eliminate the essential health benefits, including maternity care, for millions of expecting mothers. Campbell noted that Trumpcare  would bring us back to a time when  maternity riders  forced women to pay more than many could afford just to bring a child into the world.  This is not pro-life. She pointed to the Republicans proposing  to cut and cap Medicaid funding for people with disabilities and those living below the poverty level in our nation  and she goes on to say that  45 percent of births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid! Campbell writes that pro-life  members of Congress are actually dismissing the needs of mothers and their newborn children. Supporting Medicaid funding is a pro-life stance,  she says. Campbell also notes that Medicaid benefits senior citizens who live in nursing homes,  including many Catholic Sisters who have served their entire lives tending to the most vulnerable. She points to Medicaid helping those with disabilities and says that  Republican efforts to cut Medicaid funding arbitrarily will jeopardize their lives and wellbeing. Taking money away from seniors, people in poverty and people with disabilities is wrong,  she writes.  Everyone has a right to live in dignity. The Sister says Republicans are only concerned with lining the pockets of the wealthiest and are doing so at the expense of Medicaid and our most vulnerable people. Indeed, the cuts to Medicaid will afford the wealthy a nice tax break while lower-income Americans die and/or suffer. If Republicans are truly pro-life,  she writes,  then they will place people, not corporate interests, at the center of their decision-making. And, when people are healthier, we all do better. She called out her  pro-life colleagues :So my pro-life colleagues: Listen up. To be pro-life requires us to care about ALL of life, not just birth or death. Mothers and their infants need medical coverage. The disabled and the elderly need the promise that they can live in dignity for their entire natural life. This means that we must not cap individual or state expenditures for Medicaid or remove services from the defined benefits. It also means that we must not block grant Medicaid to the states or institute a per capita cap.She concluded her op-ed by calling on Senators to reject Trump/Republicare and requested to  have a real conversation that doesn t include 23 million Americans losing their healthcare. Amen, Sister!Image via screen capture. 