"Star of the show"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, "was the star of the show" at an April 29 anniversary luncheon celebrating the founding of the pro-abortion political action committee EMILY's List, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Pelosi, who says she is Catholic, has been privately counseled by San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer over her longtime support of abortion, stem-cell research and other positions contrary to Church teachings. The House Speaker has since said she had no intentions of following the archbishop's advice.
In March, Canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters wrote in his blog that Pelosi should be denied Communion under the provisions of Canon 915. "Now, I suggest that there is no US Catholic politician whose conduct at the national level is more stridently and widely pro-abortion (to name just one area in which Pelosi's machinations are gravely objectionable) and whose scandalous rhetoric is more overtly Catholic (many of her bizarre assertions the bishops have had to stop and refute) than is Nancy Pelosi's," wrote Peters. "If her prolonged public conduct does not qualify as obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin, then, in all sincerity, I must admit to not knowing what would constitute obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin."
Pelosi's appearance at the EMILY's List event and her endorsement of the group's philosophy is just another in a long series of actions showing her defiance of Church teaching on the sanctity of human life. EMILY's List was founded in 1985 with the specific purpose of electing pro-abortion women to political office. "EMILY's List is dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office," says the group's mission statement.
"EMILY's List, an acronym for Early Money Is Like Yeast (because it makes the dough rise), is a network of Democratic women who favor abortion rights, founded in 1985 by Ellen Malcolm and 24 of her friends," reported the Bee.
"Pelosi, the nation's most powerful elected woman, thanked the group at a luncheon at the Hilton Hotel and credited the network for helping pass the historic health-care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama last month," said the Bee. "'Being a woman is no longer a pre-existing medical condition!' she said to loud applause."
"Speaker Pelosi has been an inspiration to women and young girls across the country," said EMILY's List president Stephanie Schriock in a press release before the April 29 luncheon. "Her leadership on health care made passage of the landmark reform possible."
Among the candidates identified by EMILY's List for financial and political backing in the upcoming elections is Pelosi's fellow Californian, Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is also strongly pro-abortion. The group said the senator faces a tough battle for re-election. "Boxer will need strong support from EMILY's List members to continue her record of progressive leadership in the Senate," said a statement on the organization's website. Boxer is also featured as one of the "Candidates We Love" on the EMILY's List homepage.
The political action committee has played an especially prominent role in California politics. "EMILY's List has been most influential in California, where it has helped elect 21 House members, more than Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois combined," reported the Bee. "And the organization helped elect both of the state's Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer."
