Planned Parenthood CEO Claims Cardinal O’Malley Out of Step With Catholics
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 20, 2008
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) — It’s no surprise that Catholic Church officials take pro-abortion politicians or groups to task for saying they are out of step with pro-life Catholic teachings. Now, a Planned Parenthood CEO in Massachusetts is turning the tables and claiming Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston is out of step with his membership.
After the presidential election, O’Malley told the Boston Globe that he is worried about the election of Barack Obama because of his pro-abortion views.
The concern come despite his pleasure that the nation turned a corner in electing the first African-American president.
"My joy, however, is tempered by the knowledge that this man has a deplorable record when it comes to pro-life issues and is possibly in the pocket of Planned Parenthood," O’Malley said.
The Catholic cardinal told the newspaper that Planned Parenthood "in its origins was a very racist organization to eliminate the blacks" and "it’s sort of ironic that he’s been co-opted by them."
Dianne Luby, the president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, responded to O’Malley in an email to the newspaper. She didn’t respond to the racism contention but claimed O’Malley’s views don’t represent those of Boston Catholics.
"It diminishes Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s credibility when he attacks President-elect Barack Obama and Planned Parenthood for views and services his own members overwhelmingly support," Luby claims.
"If Cardinal O’Malley is going to opine on politics, and the bishops are planning to discuss lessons learned from last week’s election, it would be good for them to understand why their messages didn’t stick with their primary audience," Luby shot back.
"Cardinal O’Malley and the bishops have a lot of work to do in order to reconnect with their members," Luby concluded. "It appears from exit polls during this most recent election cycle, that Cardinal O’Malley is out of step with most voters on this very personal decision."
O’Malley, in his original comments to the Globe, appears to disagree.
"Obama is the president, and everyone wishes him well, and we will try to work with him. However, I hope he realizes that his election was not a mandate to rush ahead with a pro-abortion platform," he said.
The Catholic cardinal also said Obama and Planned Parenthood are disingenuous about claming they want to reduce abortions because their main legislation in Congress will promote them.
"Now they’re talking about pushing this FOCA, which doesn’t sound to me like it’s going to try and reduce abortions, but simply make them much more accessible to people, and pay for them, at home and abroad," he said.
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