Obama’s hysterical abortion ad
Ever since 1973, the year of Roe v. Wade, I’ve followed the histrionic ravings of NARAL, NOW and other professional abortion supporters. as they attempt to frighten enlighten the public.
I’ve read their websites, watched their vulgar marches, perused their op/eds and letters-to-the editor, all the while shaking my head. Why do these people go about pleading their cause in such self-defeating ways?
As a matter of fact, four years ago I wrote an op/ed published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Tips for Pro-Choice Advocates. Yes, I was so annoyed by their ineptitude, I wrote an article giving them advice.
(If you’re interested in background to that article, and curious to see whether or not my tactic was risky, go to the Issues, Etc. archive for an audio interview.)
I mention this because a very recent, brief Barack Obama abortion ad Barack Obama abortion ad is in the works. After a “nurse-practitioner” intro, an announcer concludes, “As president, John McCain will make abortion illegal.”
Whoa. Those are red-hot words.
Phil Lawler, over at Catholic World News, pours on some much needed cold water:
“As president, John McCain will make abortion illegal,” an announcer says on a new Obama campaign spot.
That simple declarative sentence is misleading– indeed it is obviously intended to mislead.
While he opposes legal abortion, McCain has given absolutely no indication that he would attempt to outlaw the practice.
President Bush, whose pro-life credentials are at least as strong as McCain’s has not attempted to legalize a ban on abortion.
Why not? Because Congress would not pass an abortion ban, and even if by some miracle the majority in Congress did support a measure making abortion illegal, the Supreme Court (as currently composed) would overturn it.
Like it or not, this simple, declarative sentence is undeniably true: “As president, John McCain will not make abortion illegal.”
Obama knows that. His campaign staff knows that. His ad tells the public otherwise.
So why does this presidential candidate known for his intelligence, precision and “nuance” — aka hair-splitting — allow himself to state, “I am Barack Obama and I approve this message”?
Sherry Tyree, 66, a graduate of John Burroughs School and Washington University, is a founding member (1984) and Vice President of Women for Faith & Family, a national Catholic women's organization that supports and defends traditional church teachings. Sherry is married to Dr. Donald A. Tyree, professor emeritus, School of Business, St. Louis University. 
Also Tim, what kinds of delusions are you suffering from to even insinuate that I do not feel this same way about this issue or such sins among leaders or supposedly believers of any faith? You are extremely paranoid or are is it guilty?
AFTER ALL, IT IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS TO JUDGE OUTSIDERS. GOD WILL JUDGE THEM.
Also while you’ll at it take to heart the above scripture (God’s Word) and apply His Word to your abortion, “PRO-LIFE” cause where those outside the Church(non-believers) are concerned. Try OBEYING God’s Word by ceasing attempting to control things God have not given you authority to intervene in or attempt to control. These things you cannot control and even if abortions were made illegal again, you still will not be able to control it, it will still be rapid by those who want them and come up with the money to get them. God is much smarter than YOU PEOPLE (Pro-Lifer’s).
Can you be any more biased and opinionated? You consistently write as though your moral perspectives are the only ones with merit. There’s nothing about this column that demonstrates civility or represents the varied views of the diverse religious landscape of our region. Perhaps this should be renamed, “The Conservative Roman Catholic Column.”
To Lou:
I am one of two Roman Catholic bloggers on the P.D. Civil Religion website.
There are 10 other bloggers whose posts reflect their various religions. We are meant to post about our own religions, though we are not limited to that.
So, yes, we are meant to write from own “moral perspectives” and not “the varied views of diverse religious landscape of our region.”
When I worked in the St. Louis civil rights movement, I did so because I am a Catholic. Back then I was labeled by some as liberal.
Today I comment mainly about abortion and am labeled by some as conservative. Again, I do this because I am a Catholic.
I am so glad I have embraced atheism.
Someone once said “if you have something important to say for God’s sake begin at the end”. So in that spirit. The real tragedy of the US Catholic Church’s position on abortion is that it is probably the main cause we have 1 million extra abortions every year. US has almost ten times higher rate of abortion compared to European countries. Very little attention is paid to this difference here. But one has to ask why and one very big difference is that the religious element plays very little role in European social policy making. In the case of abortions this has led them to focus on causes of unwanted pregnancies and how to minimize them. Here the abortion debate takes ‘oxygen’ away from not only other important issues (as some others have noted) but also with social issues around abortion.
Unfortunately religious institutions (and Catholics are not the only ones guilty of this) find it very difficult to change positions having once taken them. Galileo was hanged nearly 600 years ago for the heresy that Earth is not the center of the Universe. But the Church formally retracted this decision only a few decades ago. After we already knew that our Solar System is in a rather obscure corner of the Milky Way Galaxy, which contains millions of other Solar Systems and which is one of millions of Galaxies. One should remember God was not wrong about the Earth being the center of the Universe. It was human interpretation of God’s message that was flawed.
The Muslim position on abortion from early scholars is that it is not a sin but undesirable and only permissible in the 1st 90 days of pregnancy after which only if continuing the pregnancy would kill the mother. It is a position by the way that many Muslims today are unaware of and most would agree with the Catholic Church’s position (which does not bode well for Muslim societies as they develop).
True sincerity of belief must….must be based on humility and especially humility to see when we are erring. 1.3 Million abortions a year is a great tragedy and knowing that if the US was like Britain in its social policies that this number would be less than 0.2 million is heartbreaking and I hope those who are truly Pro-Life (and not just Anti-abortion) would come to understand this and start working accordingly to keep Abortions legal permanently and focus on the root causes of some many unwanted pregnancies.
Sorry I never got back to this one. No point answering D since no one will see it, but for the historical record Khalid and D are wrong.