LIFE DIGEST: Protests continue of Obama at Notre Dame
- May 12, 2009
The University of Notre Dame’s decision to invite President Obama to be its commencement speaker and to grant him an honorary degree continues to produce fallout.
The President, a supporter of unrestricted abortion rights during his legislative career who began rescinding pro-life polices in his first 100 days in office, will address the school’s 2009 graduates and others attending the May 17 event.
Also in this edition: Kansas Senate fails to override Sebelius veto and Bill to protect pro-life taxpayers offered and Planned Parenthood closes in Lynchburg.
The invitation to Obama from Notre Dame, the country’s leading Roman Catholic university, has produced an outpouring of protest from Catholics. The Catholic Church, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is strongly pro-life, although many members of the church back legal abortion.
Some Notre Dame seniors have decided not to participate in their own commencement but to hold a prayer vigil instead at the same time on campus. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, will lead the Class of 2009 Vigil for Life at the invitation of seniors who have chosen to boycott the graduation.
“Hundreds of thousands of Catholics, hundreds of priests and dozens of bishops have called upon Notre Dame to end this scandal by withdrawing its invitation to President Obama,” Pavone said in a written statement May 11.
While the graduating seniors have no control over the school administration’s response to those requests, they can choose not to attend their own commencement, Pavone said. “Don’t participate in an event which will only serve to obscure rather than highlight the Church’s pro-life teaching and the true spirit of Notre Dame,” he said.
Notre Dame’s honoring of Obama has already cost the school a high-profile speaker at commencement.
Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard law professor and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, informed Notre Dame President John Jenkins April 27 she would not accept the Laetare Medal or speak at the graduation. The award is given annually to a Catholic whose service has benefited the Church and society.
Glendon told Jenkins she was “dismayed” the school had chosen to give an award to Obama in spite of the American bishops’ 2004 request that Catholic organizations “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.”
Kansas Senate fails to override Sebelius veto
The Kansas Senate failed May 7 to override a gubernatorial veto of legislation that would have required greater accountability by late-term abortion doctors.
The Senate voted 25-13 to overturn former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto, leaving it two votes short of the two-thirds majority required for an override. Sebelius vetoed the bill April 23, five days before she was confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services under President Obama.
The measure would have required doctors to report additional information to the state about late-term abortions they perform, according to The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal. Under the legislation, physicians would have to provide the medical diagnoses they used as the basis for performing late-term abortions. Kansas permits abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy in cases of endangerment to the mother’s life or “substantial and irreversible” harm to a significant bodily function, The Capital-Journal reported.
The measure also would have permitted a civil lawsuit against a doctor if a woman or a family member believes an abortion he performed was illegal. In addition, the legislation would have strengthened the state’s ban on partial-birth abortion by limiting the exceptions to a threat to the life of the mother.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Sebelius in a 65-31 vote despite her acknowledgment she had underreported to senators campaign contributions from the country’s most notorious abortion doctor, George Tiller.
Tiller’s Wichita clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, is a major reason Kansas has been described as “the late-term abortion capital of America.” It advertises on its website it has “more experience in late abortion services over 24 weeks than anyone else currently practicing in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Australia.” Women travel to his clinic from throughout the United States and various foreign countries in order to have late-term abortions.
Bill to protect pro-life taxpayers offered
Legislation has been introduced in Congress to require states to report anytime Medicaid funds received from the federal government are spent on “items or services” supplied by an abortion provider. The bill also would mandate a state publish the report on an Internet site.
“It is simply unacceptable to me that pro-life taxpayers are required to subsidize abortion services,” Rep. Pete Olson, R.-Texas, said April 22 after introducing the Taxpayer Conscience Protection Act, H.R. 1981. “Unfortunately, inadequate accounting and reporting requirements mean that we can’t even say how much federal tax money is going to these organizations. Only by shining the light of day onto this area of government spending can we ensure that federal tax dollars do not fund morally objectionable practices.”
Olson’s proposal has 23 cosponsors and is unlikely to achieve passage in this Congress.
Planned Parenthood closes in Lynchburg
Planned Parenthood will close its Lynchburg, Va., health center June 30.
The center, which does not provide abortions, will shut down as a “cost-cutting measure,” one the country’s No. 1 abortion chain is facing because of a “weakened economy and its effects on our operating budget,” a Planned Parenthood official said, according to The Lynchburg News & Advance.
In 2009, Planned Parenthood also has closed health centers in Latham, N.Y., and Monroe, Wash., according to LifeNews.com. Neither of those centers did surgical abortions, but the Latham affiliate provided the abortion drug RU 486, LifeNews reported.
Affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
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