{"id":4176,"date":"2009-01-23T00:10:19","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T00:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html"},"modified":"2009-01-23T00:10:19","modified_gmt":"2009-01-23T00:10:19","slug":"obama-and-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama and Abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ObamaGrav.jpg\"<\/span>Barack Obama, as far as I’m concerned, is not off to a good start<\/a> when it comes to “change” and ending the “politics as usual” he claimed in his campaign. First, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade he has announced what amounts a contradiction<\/i>: reduce abortions by supporting and funding abortions<\/i>. This makes no sense to me. What really makes it difficult morally is that such support is offered on the day he was also announcing — rightly — to close down GTMO and speak against the evils of torture. Abortion is also torture. Women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies, but once there’s a pregnancy, that woman is now carrying someone else’s body — that body is no longer simply her own. Support of abortion and opposition to torture is a moral contradiction, and I call on the Obama Administration to re-think their position of their stance on abortion.<\/p>\n

Second, our President has postponed announcing that he will support the Mexico City Policy decision. Reagan withdrew support for international clinics that supported abortion, Clinton reinstated support, G.W. Bush withdrew the support, and it appears Obama will reinstate support again. We expected to hear his reinstatement yesterday, but it didn’t happen. Everything I hear is that it will happen. This, my friends, is politics as usual.<\/i> Here’s what change<\/i> could mean: there are plenty of clinics to support that don’t do abortions; support those. To choose to reinstate support is to make a choice to support clinics that specifically provide abortions. There is here neither change nor is there a politics that is not usual.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/p>\n


Washington,
\nDC (LifeNews.com) —<\/b> President Barack Obama used the occasion
\nof the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to issue
\na contradictory statement. The new president called for reducing abortions
\nbut honored the radical decision that ushered in an era of 50 million
\nabortions and virtually no limits.<\/font><\/p>\n

Obama
\npraised the Supreme Court for issuing what has been one of the most
\ncondemned rulings in its history. <\/font><\/p>\n

“[T]his
\ndecision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom,
\nbut stands for a broader principle: That government should not intrude
\non our most private family matters,” Obama said in a statement.<\/font><\/p>\n

And
\nhe reaffirmed his official position supporting abortion.<\/font><\/p>\n

“I
\nremain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose,”
\nhe said.<\/font><\/p>\n

The
\npresident also issued a call for an expansion of access to birth control
\nand contraception, even though studies and actual abortion data have
\nshown they do nothing to reduce the numbers of abortions.<\/font><\/p>\n

“While
\nthis is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views,
\nwe are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies,
\nreduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the
\nchoices they make,” he said. “To accomplish these goals,
\nwe must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable
\ncontraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.”<\/font><\/p>\n


Washington,
\nDC (LifeNews.com) —<\/b> In a move to downplay his pro-abortion agenda,
\nPresident Barack Obama has decided to wait a little longer to reverse
\na Bush policy preventing taxpayer funding of abortions overseas. The
\nMexico City Policy prevents sending public funds to groups that perform
\nor promote abortions in other countries.<\/font><\/p>\n

The
\nnew president could either issue an order tomorrow or in the near
\nfuture to reverse the policy or allow Congress to do it.<\/font><\/p>\n

Obama
\nwas expected to overturn the pro-life policy on his first or second
\nfull days in office and to possibly do so today, on the anniversary
\nof the Roe v. Wade decision.<\/font><\/p>\n

However,
\na CBN News report indicates Obama will not overturn the policy on
\na day that pro-life advocates mourn the Supreme Court allowing virtually
\nunlimited abortions.<\/font><\/p>\n

While
\nObama is still expected to fund foreign abortions at some point, CBN
\nNews indicates Obama is attempting to camouflage his pro-abortion
\nagenda by issuing a statement calling for efforts to reduce abortions.<\/font><\/p>\n

“It
\nis unclear whether Obama intends to reverse the Mexico City Policy
\nat some point in the future but this reliable source tells me that
\nthis move signals that Obama will stress the need for reducing abortions
\nin this country rather than focus on the divisive tit for tat policy
\nreversals of the past,” writes David Brody a senior correspondent
\nfor the network.<\/font><\/p>\n

The
\nmove may infuriate pro-abortion groups, which campaigned relentlessly
\nfor Obama and expected him to immediately reverse the policy upon
\ntaking over the White House.<\/font><\/p>\n

At
\nthe same time, Obama could approach overturning the Mexico City Policy
\nin the same manner as
\nhe is apparently approachin<\/a>g reversing Bush’s limits on funding
\nembryonic stem cell research.<\/font><\/p>\n

Obama
\nappears to want Congress to do the heavy lifting to pass legislation
\nreversing the protections and he can both get credit for signing the
\nbill and deflect criticism by not becoming the sole decision-maker
\nchanging the rules.<\/font><\/p>\n

Such
\na move would also make it much tougher for pro-life advocates to undo
\nthe decision — and Obama could also rely on Congress to reverse the
\nMexico City Policy.<\/font><\/p>\n

In
\nSeptember, 2007, Sen. Barbara Boxer introduced an amendment to a spending
\nbill that would have reversed the policy and the
\nSenate approved it<\/a> by a 53-41 percentage point margin. <\/font><\/p>\n

The
\nmove didn’t take effect only because President Bush threatened to
\nveto any spending bill that removed the Mexico City Policy — something
\nObama would unlikely do.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barack Obama, as far as I’m concerned, is not off to a good start when it comes to “change” and ending the “politics as usual” he claimed in his campaign. First, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade he has announced what amounts a contradiction: reduce abortions by supporting and funding abortions. This makes no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nObama and Abortion - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama and Abortion - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barack Obama, as far as I’m concerned, is not off to a good start when it comes to “change” and ending the “politics as usual” he claimed in his campaign. First, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade he has announced what amounts a contradiction: reduce abortions by supporting and funding abortions. This makes no…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-23T00:10:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/imgs\/ObamaGrav.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama and Abortion - Jesus Creed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Obama and Abortion - Jesus Creed","og_description":"Barack Obama, as far as I’m concerned, is not off to a good start when it comes to “change” and ending the “politics as usual” he claimed in his campaign. First, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade he has announced what amounts a contradiction: reduce abortions by supporting and funding abortions. This makes no…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2009-01-23T00:10:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/imgs\/ObamaGrav.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html","name":"Obama and Abortion - Jesus Creed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/imgs\/ObamaGrav.jpg","datePublished":"2009-01-23T00:10:19+00:00","dateModified":"2009-01-23T00:10:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/19879975236b70da80f4cbea933c59d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/imgs\/ObamaGrav.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/imgs\/ObamaGrav.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/01\/obama-and-abortion.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Obama and Abortion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith for today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/19879975236b70da80f4cbea933c59d0","name":"Scot McKnight","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/c10\/c10b0226ed6cfd8319b2b8742ac4088ax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/c10\/c10b0226ed6cfd8319b2b8742ac4088ax96.jpg","caption":"Scot McKnight"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/author\/smcknight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}