(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Robert Casey Jr.’s office told CNSNews.com on Monday that the Pennsylvania Democrat’s vote against an amendment that would have revived the Mexico City Policy did not conflict with his pro-life views. 

The vote came on January 28 in the form of an amendment offered by Sen. Mel Martinez (R.-Fla.) to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

The Mexico City Policy, originally put in place by President Reagan, prohibited U.S. tax dollars from going to groups that perform or promote abortions abroad.  The policy was suspended by President Clinton and renewed by President George W. Bush, only to be suspended again by President Obama in the first week of his presidency.

Martinez's amendment was aimed at reversing President Obama's suspension and reinstating the Mexico City policy as statutory law.  

The Martinez amendment said: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, regulation, or policy, including the memorandum issued by the President on January 23, 2009, to the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, titled 'Mexico City Policy and Assistance for Voluntary Family Planning,' no funds authorized under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq) for population planning activities or other population or family planning assistance may be made available for any private, nongovernmental, or multilateral organization that performs or actively promotes abortion as a method of birth control."

The amendment was defeated 37-60, with Sen. Casey voting in the negative.

Bishop Joseph Martino of the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., has been sharply critical of Casey's position on this matter, and last week sent a letter to Casey while making a separate statement about Catholic politicians, regarding their stance on abortion.
 
“Currently, more than half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion. Very simply, fewer unintended pregnancies means fewer abortions,” Casey’s spokesman Larry Smar told CNSNews.com in a statement. “Women who are not pregnant don’t have abortions.”
 
On Feb. 26, Bishop Martino sent an open letter to Casey criticizing his characterization of the vote, while referencing an earlier letter the bishop had sent to Casey on January 30 that also criticized the vote.

"It is a matter of deep concern that your recent vote against the Mexico City Policy is continually misrepresented by your staff as a pro-life vote intended to promote 'contraception and other family planning that avoid unintended pregnancies,'" the bishop wrote. 
 
"The Mexico City Policy is, first and foremost, about abortion, not about family planning," the bishop said.
 
"My letter of January 30 urging you to rescind your vote on the Mexico City Policy was in no way mistaken regarding the nature and the effect of President Obama’s order to rescind America’s long-standing policy to avoid using U.S. tax dollars to support organizations that promote abortion abroad," the bishop wrote the senator. "It is imperative that this fact be made known to the public.

"It is also imperative that there be utter clarity when it comes to the teaching of the Church on matters that pertain to the taking of innocent life and the special responsibilities that fall to you, Senator, as a lawmaker to oppose abortion and other clear evils," said the bishop. 

In his January 30 letter to Sen. Casey, the bishop had said that failing to reverse his vote on the Martinez amenmdent would mean the senator was persisting in "formally cooperating with the evil" caused by the policy.

"I recognize and respect the burdens that you bear as a United States Senator; however, I remind you that your responsibilities as a Catholic bound by the faith of the Church exceed even those of your office," the bishop wrote. "Your failure to reverse this vote will regrettably mean that you persist formally in cooperating with the evil brought about by this hideous and unnecessary policy. 
 
The timing of the second letter came the same day that the Scranton diocese issued a directive that read, “Those whose unworthiness to receive Holy Communion is known publicly to the Church must be refused Holy Communion in order to prevent sacrilege and to prevent the Catholic in question from committing further grave sin through unworthy reception.”
 
The directive stated, “The Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, Bishop of Scranton, reminds all ministers of Holy Communion, ordinary and extraordinary, that: 1. To administer the Sacred Body and Blood of the Lord is a serious duty which they have received from the Church, and no one having accepted this responsibility has the right to ignore the Church’s law in this regard; 2. Those whose unworthiness to receive Holy Communion is known publicly to the Church must be refused Holy Communion in order to prevent sacrilege and to prevent the Catholic in question from committing further grave sin through unworthy reception.”
 
Bill Genello, spokesman for the Diocese of Scranton, declined to say anything about the issue beyond the public statements that have been released. So, it is unclear whether the diocese is specifically calling for denying communion to Casey.
 
Casey campaigned in 2006 as a pro-life Democrat. His father, Gov. Robert Casey, was well known for breaking with the party over the abortion issue and was publicly shunned by the national Democratic Party.
 
Casey’s vote against extending the Mexico City policy is not in contradiction to his Catholic or pro-life principles, said Smar.
 
“In accordance with his pro-life views, Senator Casey voted recently to rescind Mexico City Policy, thus allowing U.S. funding of family planning services to international aid organizations,” Smar told CNSNews.com.
 
Federal law already prohibits federal funds from being used for abortions or abortion-related services, Smar said, adding that “the rescission of the Mexico City Policy has no impact upon this prohibition whatsoever. The Helms Amendment prohibits U.S. funding of abortions overseas.”
 
He referred to Section 104(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that says, “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.”
 
“Senator Casey supports the Helms Amendment and its critical inclusion in every foreign operations appropriations bill that comes before the Senate,” Smar said. “With the Helms Amendment prohibitions firmly in place, Senator Casey voted to support U.S. funding for overseas family planning precisely because it reduces the number of abortions.”
 
Smar said the vote was for family planning services abroad, not abortion.
 
But the diocese letter to Casey last week charged that Casey’s office “continually misrepresented” the vote. “The Mexico City Policy is, first and foremost, about abortion, not about family planning,” Bishop Martino wrote.

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