Obama, USA Today Wrongly Think Promoting Abortions Will Help Reduce Them
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 28, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Leading pro-life advocate Rich Doerflinger is taking the USA Today newspaper and Barack Obama to task for thinking abortions can be reduced by promoting them. Doerflinger responded to a USA Today editorial applauding some so-called pro-life groups for backing Obama.
"USA TODAY applauded the willingness of some pro-life groups to cooperate with choice advocates in a mutual effort to reduce abortions. There certainly are things both sides can agree on, but the pro-life movement can never stop fighting to reverse Roe v. Wade," Doerflinger said.
The associate director of the pro-life outreach of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the high court, in that decision, "turned an act of violence that is deadly for children and harmful to women into a right."
Doerflinger says the groups that think Obama would be a more pro-life president because he wants to aid pregnant women ignore the work of the pro-life movement that has done helped pregnant women for decades.
"Life-affirming assistance for pregnant women respects the mother and child, so of course we have always supported it," he said.
Doerflinger also said Obama and USA Today don’t understand what has caused abortions.
He said studies have shown the promotion of contraception and birth control doesn’t reduce abortions in the same way pro-life laws do.
"The abortion rate has dropped at least 30% since 1981 (especially among minors) for several reasons: enactment of hundreds of modest pro-life laws (bans on state abortion funding, informed-consent laws, parental consent requirements for minors); growing public sentiment against abortion, fueled by public debate on the grotesque method known as partial-birth abortion; a decline in early sexual activity among teens driven by concerns about AIDS; and the rise of abstinence programs," he explains.
He said Obama was serious about reducing abortions, he would not make one of his first actions as president the reversal of the Mexico City Policy that prevents forcing taxpayers to fund abortions and promoting abortions in other nations.
Doerflinger also said Obama can’t reduce abortions by supporting a Congressional bill known as the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s because the bill makes unlimited abortions the national law and overturns pro-life laws nationwide that provide for parental involvement and informed consent.
He said Obama should consider supporting the Pregnant Women Support Act, championed by Democrats for Life and sponsored by Rep. Lincoln Davis. That’s a measure that promotes more pro-life laws and measures that provide tangible assistance to women.
"We can find common ground across ideological lines, as long as we agree on the obvious fact that promoting abortions is no way to reduce them," he concludes.
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
