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No letters were printed this week; here is the letter from last week:

Stop the attacks on the sanctity of human life while we still have the chance

Since late January when President Barack Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first announced they would force religious institutions to provide free access to contraception, abortion-causing drugs and sterilizations, Catholics and other religious leaders have done an admirable job of defending our religious freedom and the sanctity of the unborn.

Unfortunately, while the Church was giving a great deal of attention to this unprecedented attack, HHS quietly issued a new regulation. This new mandate represents what is likely the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.

Here is how it works.

On Jan. 1, 2014, when we will all be required to purchase health care coverage, the federal government will begin subsidizing that coverage based on our annual incomes.

Everyone whose income falls below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $92,000 per year for a family of four, will have our health care premiums subsidized. The subsidies will apply even if we continue to purchase coverage through our jobs.

These subsidies come at an extremely high moral cost for you and me, however, and unborn babies will pay the ultimate price.

As soon as the government money starts flowing, HHS will charge a monthly fee to cover so-called “abortion services.”

As unbelievable as this abortion funding scheme sounds, it gets worse.

Pro-life legal experts have pointed out that we will all be required to pay the abortion surcharge with every monthly premium. None of us can opt out, and it is illegal for insurance companies to list the surcharge as a separate line item on our monthly bills.

As far as HHS is concerned, this is the perfect scheme to force us to pay for all abortions, and most people will not even realize it.

What can we do to stop these abortion mandates?

First, learn all you can. An excellent resource is www.LifeNews.com. Their article gives more details about the abortion surcharge. Read more at http://www.lifenews.com/2012/06/05/obamacare-premium-could-give-abortion-industry-1-billion.

Second, contact your representatives in Congress. Ask them to sponsor legislation to repeal Obamacare, and encourage them to replace it with more sensible health care reform.

Next, cast your vote for pro-life candidates this November.

Finally, pray for the conversion of pro-abortion leaders in our government.

Now is the time to stop these attacks on the sanctity of human life while we still have the chance.

- Julia Oelker | Indianapolis