| Spirit & Life® | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63) Human Life International e-Newsletter Volume 04, Number 03 | Friday, January 16, 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Obama v. Life Dear Friends of Life, As tens of thousands prepare to gather for the 36th annual March for Life in Washington, DC, we are aware that the March occurs just two days after the most extreme advocate of abortion in our nation's history takes office as our President. It is not an understatement to say that we have our work cut out for us. In keeping with our mission, Human Life International is making a concerted effort to educate the fawning Obama admirers in other countries about the reality of the all-out assault on life, marriage and family that this man and his administration will perpetrate on our world. Please pray for the success of our endeavors to expose the truth and to wake people up to the true challenges that await us in the next four years. I include in this week's Spirit and Life our newest project to educate those who love life both in America and abroad: namely, the "Pro-Life Talking Points" series. (See side bar.) The first number of the set, called "Obama v. Life," launches just before the Presidential inauguration next week so that we can let all know, in our modest way, that we will counter the anti-life agenda wherever we can. In any case, please print out the Talking Points for this week (only two sides, front and back) and pass them on to your friends and any of those "Catholics" who voted for Obama. They may need this sheet more than anyone. Sincerely Yours in Christ,
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Human Life International's
Pro-Life Talking Points
Obama v. Life
1. Barack Obama declared the expansion of abortion
his first priority: During his presidential campaign,
Barack Obama discussed a large number of pressing
issues facing the federal government from the economy
and health care reform to terrorism and the war in
Iraq. He chose to make the removal of all restrictions
on abortion his first priority from the beginning of
his campaign. In a speech to the Planned Parenthood
Action Fund on July 27, 2007, then-U.S. Senator
Obama promised, "The first thing I'd do as President is
sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing
that I'd do." The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)
is congressional legislation designed to eliminate all
federal, state, and local curbs on abortion of any kind.
Congress must pass FOCA before the President can
sign it.
2. FOCA, Obama's first priority, is the most extreme
pro-abortion legislation: Though the U.S. Supreme
Court made abortion-on-demand the practice in the
United States, federal law has never authorized or
mandated it. FOCA would change that by declaring,
"It is the policy of the United States that every woman
has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child,
to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or
to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when
necessary to protect the life or health of the woman."
The Supreme Court has long held that the "health
of the woman" exception includes any psychological
distress caused by an unwanted child, thus effectively
guaranteeing abortion on demand. FOCA would
explicitly override all other federal, state, and local
laws and require public hospitals to provide abortions
at taxpayer expense. In addition, it would require
private hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, who
receive government funds (such as through Medicaid
or Medicare) to provide abortions. Cardinal Justin
Rigali wrote to members of Congress in a September
2008 letter that under FOCA, "For the first time,
abortion on demand would be a national entitlement
that government must condone and promote in all
public programs affecting pregnant women."
3. Obama favored allowing the killing of infants
born alive: When nurse Jill Stanek broke the news
that infants born alive after botched abortions at
Chicago's Christ Hospital were being deliberately left
to die, then-Illinois state senator Obama spoke against
a bill forbidding the practice even though it specifically
applied only to children "born alive." Later, as chairman
of a state senate committee in 2003, he killed the bill,
which later passed the U.S. Senate unanimously as the
Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Even Sen. Barbara
Boxer (D.-Calif.), sponsor of FOCA, voted for the
Born Alive bill. When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate,
he flip-flopped and said he would have voted for the
Born Alive bill had he been in the U.S. Senate.
4. Obama was the favorite candidate of the proabortion
movement: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.)
voted for the Born Alive Infants Protection Act that
Obama opposed. In response, heavy hitters in the proabortion
movement passed over Clinton and endorsed
Obama for President in the Democratic primary. Frances
Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice endorsed Obama,
as did the National Abortion Rights Action League
(NARAL). All pro-abortion organizations report that
Obama has a 100% pro-abortion voting record. On Jan.
22, 2008, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Obama
said, "With one more vacancy on the Supreme Court,
we could be looking at a majority hostile to a woman's
fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe
v. Wade…. Throughout my career, I've been a consistent
and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have
consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned
Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America." All
observers expect Obama to nominate pro-Roe justices to
the Supreme Court.
5. Obama favors forcing taxpayers to fund embryonic
stem-cell research: Obama promised during his
campaign to reverse President Bush's executive order
limiting federal funding to research with embryonic
stem cells from embryos already killed by the time
of the order. Obama's reversal will provide taxpayer
funding to create and kill new embryonic human
beings solely for scientific research. So far, all funding
for embryonic stem cell research has been wasted since
it has produced no medical treatments, while adult
stem cell research has been generating treatments for
over 30 years. In addition, the scientist who founded
embryonic stem cell research has said that technology
now exists to obtain the kind of cells needed for research
without harvesting them from embryos.
6. Obama favors partial-birth abortion: In 2007,
the largely pro-abortion Supreme Court upheld the
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in
2003. The bill banned late-term abortions in which
children are delivered except for their heads, which are
then punctured and their brains suctioned out. The
American people overwhelmingly supported the bill
and so did many otherwise pro-abortion members of
Congress. Obama opposed it and continues to support
the re-legalization of partial-birth abortion by adding
a health exception to the law, which would render it
meaningless given the courts' broad interpretation of
health exceptions.
7. Obama favors secret abortions for minors: Obama
twice voted against the Child Custody Protection Act,
which would have forbidden the transportation across
state lines of girls for abortions without the knowledge
of their parents or legal guardians.
8. Obama opposes funding for crisis pregnancy
centers and the Hyde Amendment: In 2007, Obama's
campaign told the pro-abortion website rhrealitycheck.
org that he opposes federal funding for crisis pregnancy
centers. It also said that Obama opposes the Hyde
Amendment that prevents Medicaid from paying for
abortions on demand.
9. Obama flip-flopped on Terri Schiavo: Obama
voted to give Terri Schiavo's parents a chance to save
her from involuntary euthanasia. But in a 2008
presidential debate, he flip-flopped and said he had
erred. "I think that was a mistake, and I think the
American people understood that was a mistake. And
as a constitutional law professor, I knew better," he said
February 26.
10. Obama's appointees favor expanding abortion
here and abroad: Hillary Clinton, Obama's choice for
secretary of State, has long openly favored using U.S.
influence and money to pressure foreign nations, such
as those in Latin America, into legalizing abortion.
She will now oversee American foreign policy. She
and Obama favor overturning the Mexico City policy
that forbids U.S. funding for overseas organizations
that advocate legalizing abortion. Obama and Clinton
have promised to reverse Bush Administration policy
and restore funding for the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA), which promotes abortion globally
and subsidizes China's coercive population control
program. Obama's secretary of Health and Human
Services, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.), favors
expanding government funding of abortion, has voted
to allow human cloning, and favors federal funding for
more destructive embryonic stem-cell research.
