The National Catholic Register has never been naïve about where President Barack Obama stands on the issue of protecting human life.
If you don’t believe us, just search our site using the terms “Barack Obama” and “abortion,” and note what comes up — links to the many articles we’ve published detailing Obama’s sad record of favoring abortion rights over the lives of unborn children.
We’re also braced against the tragic reality that Obama is almost certain to repeal some of the pro-life protections instituted by his presidential predecessor, perhaps beginning as early as this week.
But even though we’re not naïve, we also know it’s our responsibility as Catholic journalists to try to appeal to Obama’s better nature on the issue of abortion and other threats to unborn lives, and to keep praying for a presidential change of heart.
And to take note of occasions when Obama makes a pro-life allusion, even if he doesn’t realize that he’s done so. A case in point — this comment from today’s inaugural address:
“For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies,” our new president declared. “… It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.”
That’s very true, Mr. President, and exactly where is the willingness of parents to nurture first expressed in the life of each and every child? While those children are still in their mothers’ wombs, of course.
Pro-lifers looking for a way to help fan this spark of hope that President Obama might come to fully value the sanctity of the life of every unborn person should go here. It’s a link to an electronic pro-life letter that’s being sent to America’s new president through the good offices of the Bioethics Defense Fund.
The letter concludes, “On this historic occasion that vindicates the rights of human beings who were once considered to be property in American law, we invite you, Mr. President, to lead our nation with policies that respect the dignity and equality of each and every human life.”
— Tom McFeely