Letter to the Editor: Cardinal Stafford Right on Obama’s Abortion Views

I was surprised to read Prof. Kmiec’s editorial about Cardinal Stafford’s recent speech at CUA where he discussed Barack Obama’s views on abortion. In his letter, Kmiec attempts to refute those, like Stafford, who would insist that the president-elect is “anti-life.”  Kmiec states, “He [Obama] is not; the new President merely intends to use compassion and assistance, not condemnation and prohibition to promote human life.”

If one were to agree with Kmiec, one would need to assume that Obama takes a truly “pro-choice” stance on abortion, neither attempting to prohibit nor promote the practice, but instead uses compassion to lower the number of abortions by his support for women in crisis pregnancies.  But the facts simply don’t support this premise. Here are a few facts regarding Obama’s abortion views:

1)      Obama has promised to promote and sign the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill which would reverse virtually all existing laws that attempt to place any common sense restrictions on abortion.  Such laws include parental notification and consent laws, partial-birth abortion bans, as well as prohibitions on the domestic funding of abortions.

2)      The president-elect is also expected to immediately reverse the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits our UN funding from going to organizations that perform or promote abortions overseas.  Reversing this policy means that the US will once again (as it was in the Clinton Administration) be an active force in the funding and promotion of abortion world-wide.

3)      The new president is also expected to immediately reverse the embryonic stem cell policy of the Bush Administration.  This policy limited the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to already existing stem cell lines. Reversing this policy will open the floodgates of this type of research, which will not only degrade human life but will also start a market for human eggs, which are needed for embryonic stem cell experimentation.  This market will result in the exploitation of poor women who will be financially enticed to donate their own eggs (a dangerous and painful procedure).

4)      Obama has also just announced that his communications director will be Ellen Moran, the current executive director of Emily’s List, an organization which raises funds for pro-choice candidates to public office. One might ask how anything “pro-life” could be communicated by this president’s administration with such an individual in this position.

5)      The new president’s attitude on life in the womb is also telling. In a campaign discussion about sex education, he hypothetically discussed a situation in which one of his daughters might find themselves pregnant.  Defending a possible abortion option for his daughters, he stated, “I don’t want them punished with a baby.” An unbiased observer can only conclude that Obama, must at least sometimes consider the gift of life in the womb as a “punishment.”

6)      One would also expect this proposed compassionate approach, which Kmiec believes Obama has, to manifest itself in the support of Crisis Pregnancy Centers and other organizations which assist poor pregnant women.  However, there is no evidence of such compassionate support by Obama.

In short, I understand that many Catholics have voted for Barack Obama on the basis of issues other than abortion. The problem is that many of them, in their enthusiasm for their candidate, seek to whitewash his abysmal policies on abortion. However, these attempts show Kmiec and others of his ilk to be either ignorant of the facts, or at best, naïve.  But as the above facts show, Cardinal Stafford’s views were accurate: Barack Obama is probably the most pro-abortion president that this nation has ever seen.

Dennis Di Mauro is Secretary of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, President of Northern VA Lutherans for Life and a doctoral student in Theology and Religious Studies at CUA.

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