Can Catholics Vote For Pro-Choice Politicians?

Recommend (9) Comments (6)

1.    I cannot vote for a man, such as Barack Obama, who voted three times against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, a law that would insure babies who are born during an induced abortion receive medical treatment.  To oppose such a measure is barbarism, pure and simple.  Every pro-choice U. S. senator, including Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer voted for BAIPA in 2002. 

2.    I cannot vote for a man, such as Barack Obama, who voted against BAIPA and then lied about the reasons why.  He has repeatedly said he would have supported BAIPA if he had been presented with the federal version of the bill. National Right to Life has produced the written evidence showing Obama signed the federal version of the bill containing explicit assurances that Roe v. Wade would not be overturned as a result of BAIPA.

3.    I cannot vote for a man, such as Barack Obama, who repeatedly promises “abortion reduction” but is on record for promising NARAL that his first act as president will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That law will overturn any and all state laws limiting abortion, including parental notification laws.

4.    I cannot vote for a man, such as Barack Obama, who while promising “abortion reduction” deliberately misrepresents the success of abortion reduction under the Bush administration. Obama and his surrogates repeatedly claim abortions have not gone down. Last January the Guttmacher Institute reported that between 2000 and 2005 the number of abortions dropped 9 percent to their lowest level since 1975.

5.    I cannot vote for a man, such as Barack Obama, who voted against BAIPA, opposes the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, promises to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, and publicly expounds his reasons supporting any and all abortion to NARAL and Planned Parenthood, but cannot answer the question, posed by Rick Warren, about when a child receives human rights. His inability to answer that question with "specificity,” saying it is “above my pay grade” tells me he cast all those votes and made all those speeches without really knowing the answer to the very question necessary to making those votes and giving those speeches.

6.    I cannot vote for man, such as Barack Obama, who considers voters like myself who are deeply concerned about the protection of unborn life as extremist and divisive, but pretends otherwise. His campaign says things like, "Senator Obama has reached out to Americans on both sides of this issue and embraces practical proposals designed to reduce the number of abortions in this country." But a constant refrain from Obama’s Catholic surrogates is exactly the opposite – As Catholics United wrote to the president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, the issue of abortion is "one that is too often hijacked by partisan operatives who seek only to divide voters." I doubt if many pro-lifers feel that Obama has reached out to them when he promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act his first week in the White House.