DEACON FOR LIFE

Were there to be no support in the whole history of ethical and moral thought, were there no acknowledged confirmation from medical science, were the history of legal opinion to the contrary, we would still have to conclude on the basis of God's Holy Word that the unborn child is a person in the sight of God. He is protected by the sanctity of life graciously given to each individual by the Creator, Who alone places His image upon man and grants them any right to life which they have.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

COMMON GROUND ON ABORTION?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue speaks to the "On Common Ground" forum that RHRealityCheck.org has launched on abortion:

The terms "dialogue" and "common ground" are innocuous enough, and may even convey something benign. But when selectively invoked by ideologues as a political vehicle, they are worse than vacuous—they are devious. Such is the case with the latest effort by RHRealityCheck.org.

RHRealityCheck.org may have been able to persuade reasonable persons like Steven Waldman of Beliefnet to join in this effort, but too many of the announced participants are hardened pro-abortion activists. Moreover, the website demonizes a number of religious conservative groups by labeling them "far right" organizations. It even posts an attack piece on me done at the behest of the nation's most notorious anti-Catholic group, Catholics for Choice; this shell of an organization has twice been condemned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bad as these aspects of the project are, they are nothing when compared to the vicious denunciations of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. If giving young women an alternative to abortion is considered taboo, then the entire Common Ground project is destined to be an abysmal failure. It also shows that their alleged interest in adoption is a ruse.

Religious conservatives should not only reject offers to participate in this forum—they should condemn it as a fraud.