Vol. 73/No. 22      June 8, 2009

Despite that stance, right-wing groups objected to the Catholic university inviting the president to speak and awarding him an honorary degree, because he supports legal abortion and embryonic stem cell research. But their efforts to muster a protest turned out only 100 people at its height.

It was a mark of the widespread acceptance of women’s legal right to abortion, including among Catholics. While a recent Gallup poll shows 51 percent consider themselves “pro-life” compared to 42 percent who say they are “pro-choice,” a CNN poll found that 69 percent oppose the overturn of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion.

In his speech Obama did not refer to abortion as the right of women to decide, but rather focused on the “moral” issues where he said pro- and antiabortion forces can agree. This was in line with his comments to the media after his first 100 days in office, when he said, “I think abortion is a moral issue and an ethical issue. There are some who suggest that this is simply an issue about women’s freedom and that there’s no other considerations.”

He told the Notre Dame graduates, “We must find a way to live together as one human family” and “finding that common ground … is not easy.”

“Maybe we won’t agree on abortion,” Obama said, “but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions. So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let’s reduce unintended pregnancies. Let’s make adoption more available.”

In his race for the presidency, Obama campaigned along similar political lines. When he first took office, he reversed the Bush administration’s ban on stem cell research, cut off funding for abstinence-only sex education, and called for revising the broad protections Bush granted medical personnel who refuse to perform abortions for reasons of “conscience.”

He had promised while a candidate that “the first thing I’d do as president” is sign the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill in Congress to codify the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. But as he said April 29, that bill is “not the highest legislative priority.”

The speech was notable for what it did not address—the host of restrictions making it more difficult to obtain abortions. Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. counties, as of 2005, had no abortion services. This affects 35 percent of the female population.

Twenty-four states require women to wait at least 24 hours after receiving counseling before they have the abortion, meaning that those who have traveled hundreds of miles to reach an abortion facility must stay overnight.

Seventeen states require counseling that falsely asserts that abortion is linked to breast cancer and causes long-term mental health problems. The state legislature in Nebraska recently approved a bill requiring that prior to an abortion, the woman be informed that an ultrasound image of the fetus is available for view.

Thirty-four states require parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion; in 22 states a parent must consent to the procedure.

Forty-six states allow health-care providers to refuse to perform abortions for reasons of “conscience,” and 43 allow institutions to deny abortions. In his speech at Notre Dame, Obama called for a “sensible conscience clause,” but did not specify what that would be.
 
 
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