PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has urged Catholics opposed to abortion to work with him to reduce unintended pregnancies and make adoption more easily available.
The president was speaking at Notre Dame, the leading Catholic university in the US, after a weekend of demonstrations by anti-abortion campaigners.
Dozens of Catholic bishops condemned Notre Dame’s decision to award Mr Obama an honorary degree, arguing that the president’s support for abortion rights was an affront to Catholic teaching. Anti-abortion activists flew aircraft with pictures of aborted foetuses above the campus on Saturday, and 19 people, including a priest aged 80, were arrested for trespassing.
“Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions,” Mr Obama said in his commencement address.
“So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let’s honour the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our healthcare policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women.”
Most Notre Dame students supported the decision to award Mr Obama an honorary degree, and most American Catholics agreed that he should be allowed to speak. Mr Obama won 54 per cent of the Catholic vote in last November’s election, compared to John McCain’s 45 per cent.
Catholic support for the president has weakened in recent weeks, however, notably among those who attend Mass every week, fewer than half of whom now say he is doing a good job.
A Gallup poll published last Friday found that, for the first time, most Americans now oppose abortion rights. The poll found 51 per cent of those questioned call themselves “pro-life” on the issue and 42 per cent “pro-choice”. A year ago, Gallup found that 50 per cent said they were “pro-choice” while 44 per cent described their beliefs as “pro-life”.
A Pew Research Center survey found that 28 per cent said abortion should be legal in most cases, while 18 per cent said it should be allowed in all cases. Forty-four per cent were opposed to abortion in most or all cases.
“I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away,” Mr Obama said yesterday. “No matter how much we may want to fudge it – indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory – the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable.”
Mr Obama told the Notre Dame graduating class that they should never be afraid to stand up for what they believe in, and to hold firm to their values. He added, however, that “the ultimate irony of faith” is that it admits doubt.
“This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of self-righteousness,” he said.
“It should compel us to remain open, and curious, and eager to continue the moral and spiritual debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds.”