BALTIMORE -- Faced with an incoming president who promised to sign an expansion of abortion rights, the nation's Catholic bishops are drawing a line in the sand.

Most Americans voted on concerns about economic collapse, and "if the election is interpreted as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve," said a list of points they voted to include in a statement that their president, Cardinal George of Chicago, will draft overnight.

"The common good of our country is assured only when the life of every unborn child is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies and legislation will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans and would be interpreted by many Catholics as an attack on the church."

At a news conference, Cardinal George said that "there are some discussions around" a meeting between him and President-elect Barack Obama, whom he knows slightly from Chicago. Their past encounters have been "always friendly but never substantive," he said.

Amid other business at their meeting yesterday, the 250 bishops passed a new rite for the "blessing of a child in the womb." A former Pittsburgher, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, was elected chairman of their Committee on Pro-Life Activities, making him the bishops' ranking point person on abortion.

Their working points for Cardinal George included a desire to work with the Obama administration on issues such as immigration reform, peace and health care for the poor. But it reflected their alarm over Mr. Obama's campaign promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would remove state restrictions on abortion and require health providers to offer them.

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, who is also an attorney, drew applause when he warned that passage of the Freedom of Choice Act could force the church to close all of its hospitals rather than sell them to someone who would offer abortions.

"I do not think I'm being alarmist in suggesting the need to take such drastic steps," he said. "We need to be prepared to respond in the face of increasingly militant threats to unborn life."

Although the topic of denying communion to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion was among the drafting points, Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton -- birthplace of pro-choice Vice President-elect Joseph Biden -- pleaded with his fellow bishops to consider it. He spoke of former archbishops of St. Louis and New Orleans, who in 1947 and 1960 took such measures against Catholics -- including three legislators -- who opposed the integration of Catholic schools.

"I can't have the vice president coming to Scranton saying that he learned his values there when his values, at least in the area of abortion, are ... against the teaching of the church," he said.

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh addressed the argument of some Catholic Obama supporters who argued that his administration would reduce the number of abortions by providing better social services.

"Even if that were true, one abortion in itself would be wrong," Bishop Zubik told his colleagues.

Some of those Catholics have argued that the Freedom of Choice Act is so poorly drafted that it won't pass Congress. Earlier versions, which the bishops' own analyst said were less radical, have languished in Congress since 1989.

Bishop Zubik doesn't trust that argument.

"We've had other experiences in our history where poor legislation passed. This would be just devastating," he said in an interview.

Some bishops counseled Cardinal George to take a constructive approach. Bishop Blaise Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., suggested building on Mr. Obama's theme of personal responsibility to find "an opening for common ground."

The bishops also addressed concerns about their own anti-poverty program, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which gives grants to groups led by low-income people that work to improve housing, income and education in their communities. Although its policies forbid funding any organization that opposes Catholic values, conservative Catholics have long suspected that grant money ends up in the hands of abortion advocates.

Those concerns came to a head over the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which was accused of voter registration fraud in the recent election. The bishops' campaign has given local groups affiliated with ACORN more than $7 million over the past decade. The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the influential conservative journal First Things, had recently called on the bishops to abolish the campaign.

Auxiliary Bishop Roger Morin of New Orleans, whose subcommittee oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, said that it had suspended all funding to ACORN in June after learning that ACORN had covered up a $1 million embezzlement eight years ago. No funds from the 2007 collection went to ACORN groups in 2008, so they did not contribute to recent voter registration efforts, he said.

Although a forensic audit has found that no funds from the bishops were embezzled, his subcommittee voted this week to end ACORN funding permanently.

"Our concerns are over financial accountability, organizational performance and political partisanship," he said.

He said his committee was reviewing the Catholic Campaign for Human Development's policies to see if there are better ways of vetting grants, which is done by representatives in local dioceses.