Obama Says procedure should be rare
Obama supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare. At Notre Dame, he finds himself at the vortex of the abortion rights controversy that has riven U.S. society for decades.
Recriminations against Obama’s appearance in South Bend, Ind., have echoed across the Internet, on cable television and newspaper editorial pages.
The Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations hold that abortion or the use of embryos for stem cell research amounts to the destruction of human life, is morally wrong and should be banned by law.
The contrary argument holds that women have the right to terminate any pregnancy and that unused embryos created outside the womb for couples who cannot otherwise conceive should be available for stem cell research. Such research holds the promise of finding treatments for some of mankind’s most debilitating ailments.
Within weeks of taking office in January, Obama eased a Bush administration executive order that limited this research to a small number of stem-cell strains that existed when President George W. Bush issued his stem cell directive.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama in his commencement speech “obviously would make mention of the debate that’s been had” over abortion, while emphasizing that “this is exactly the kind of give and take that is had on college campus all over the country.”
‘Pro-choice’ is overtaken
Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame comes as new polls that show Americans’ attitudes on the issue have shifted toward the anti-abortion position.
A Gallup survey released Friday found that 51 percent of those questioned call themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42 percent “pro-choice.” This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as “pro-life” since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
Just a year ago, Gallup found that 50 percent termed themselves “pro-choice” while 44 percent described their beliefs as “pro-life.”
A Pew Research Center survey found public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.
Pew said its latest polling found that 28 percent said abortion should be legal in most cases while 18 percent said all cases. Forty-four percent of those surveyed were opposed to abortion in most or all cases.
Gallup said shifting opinions lay almost entirely with Republicans or independents who lean Republican, with opposition among those groups rising over the past year from 60 percent to 70 percent.
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(4.27.09) — The fallout from the University of Notre Dame’s highly controversial decision to invite ardent abortion supporter Barack Obama to speak at the Catholic school’s commencement continues.