I have some great news to share with you - a small but growing amount people from around the nation are bearing witness to the Gospel of Life at the doors, parking lots, and streets of their local churches!
And as news about Obama's extreme record on abortion and infanticide is made know to people of faith - thanks to the efforts of Jill Stanek and others - their support for him is dropping! Just today Pollster John Zogby noted that there was an 11% drop in support for Obama among Catholics!
With your help, we can continue to erode his support among both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Will you please take a second to sign up at prolifewitness.com, download the fliers on the website, and commit to spending a few hours between now and election day being a witness for life?
Let me share some recent highlights of the project:
* April from North Carolina, told me how her mom withdrew support for Obama after hearing Jill Stanek's testimony - and who is now planning to get the fliers on the website distributed at her parish. "but I heard her speak on the Hannity Show & that's all I needed to tell my mom to get her to change her vote. Her testimony was very moving....Speaking of my mom, she is on the parish council & is going to ask our new pastor if we can get the fliers you are talking about
& having them at church."
* Sue from Texas, was looking for a flier that she could hand out in front of the Churches in her neighborhood, something that would "include Catholic teaching regarding voting, moral obligation in the electoral process...with a picture of a beautiful baby and a picture of an aborted baby?" The project was able to put her in touch with people who had such a flier - the same flier that can now be downloaded from prolifewitness.com.
* This past weekend, the Suvivors of The Abortion Holocaust led a pro-life witness at the Saddleback Civil Forum, where Rick Warren held a forum with Sens. Obama and McCain. Since I wasn't able to go out there and lead a pro-life witness as I had wanted to, I inquired if the Survivors would - and they did. But let me give credit where it is due - this group of dynamic pro-life youth were already giving Obama a hard time on the campaign trail, and Saddleback was was a continuation of that effort.
* Others have signed up as well - for example, this past weekend, a member of a popular online political forum accepted the project's challenge to distribute literature in their community. This person informed me that they had last participated in this type of activity back in 1992 - and after being invited to do so again, they not only signed up but also downloaded the flier to distribute in their community!
Now, the question I have for you is, will you help to prevent Obama - the "Abortion President" - from getting elected by being a pro-life witness in your community?
Will you spend a few hours distributing literature at your local houses of worship?
Will you take one minute to sign up at prolifewitness.com and to download the fliers? (Please note, you will need Adobe Reader to view and print the fliers).
Time is running out, and Obama still has an excellent chance at winning the election - but not if you get involved and shine a light on his heinous record!
And please, if you do distribute the fliers - the ones on our site or your own - please let share your story so that together, we can encourage others to get
involved.
Finally, sign up today at prolifewitness.com so that I can send you details about September's teleconference that will feature some well known, high profile leaders from the pro-life movement (who will speak as individuals, and not on behalf of any organization they may be affiliated with).
Space is limited, so if you want to participate in this teleconference, sign up today!
Ruben Obregon
ProLifewitness.com
I have great respect for the deep commitment to pro-life principles most folks here share. However, there are many of us who are pro-life yet disagree with some of the political aims and tactics endorsed by many commenters on this website. Please consider this newly released article by a prominent Catholic voice. You may disagree, but let's not let ugly, mean-spirited, intolerance divide us. God bless. R
'I'm Catholic, staunchly anti-abortion, and support Obama'
By NICHOLAS P. CAFARDI, Religion News Service
Published:
September 30, 2008
Editor's note: Nicholas P. Cafardi is the second high profile Catholic legal scholar who is staunchly anti-abortion yet says he supports Barack Obama. Douglas Kmiec, Ronald Reagan’s constitutional lawyer as head of the office of legal counsel for the Department of Justice, publicly argued a similar case for O bama several weeks ago.
Commentary
I believe that abortion is an unspeakable evil, yet I support Sen. Barack Obama, who is pro-choice. I do not support him because he is pro-choice, but in spite of it. Is that a proper moral choice for a committed Catholic?
As one of the inaugural members of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board on clergy sexual abuse, and as a canon lawyer, I answer with a resounding yes.
Despite what some Republicans would like Catholics to believe, the list of what the church calls "intrinsically evil acts" does not begin and end with abortion. In fact, there are many intrinsically evil acts, and a committed Catholic must consider all of them in deciding how to vote.
Last November, the U.S. bishops released "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," a 30-page document that provides several examples of intrinsically evil acts: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, torture, racism, and targeting noncombatants in acts of war.
Obama's support for abortion rights has led some to the conclusion that no Catholic can vote for him. That's a mistake. While I have never swayed in my conviction that abortion is an unspeakable evil, I believe that we have lost the ab ortion battle -- permanently. A vote for Sen. John McCain does not guarantee the end of abortion in America . Not even close.
Let's suppose Roe v. Wade were overturned. What would happen? The matter would simply be kicked back to the states -- where it was before 1973. Overturning Roe would not abolish abortion. It would just mean that abortion would be legal in some states and illegal in others. The number of abortions would remain unchanged as long as people could travel.
McCain has promised to appoint "strict constructionist" judges who would presumably vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. But is that sufficient reason for a Catholic to vote Republican? To answer that question, let's look at the rest of the church's list of intrinsically evil acts.
Both McCain and Obama get failing marks on embryonic stem-cell research, which Catholic teaching opposes. The last time the issue was up for a vote in the Senate, both men voted to ease existing restrictions.
But what about an unjust war? In 2003, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) said flatly that "reasons sufficient for unleashing a war against Iraq did not exist." McCain voted for it; Obama opposed it.
What about tort ure? "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," according to Antonio Taguba, the retired major general who investigated abuses in Iraq . Obama opposes the use of torture in all cases; McCain, himself a victim of torture, voted to allow the CIA to use so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- a euphemism for torture.
How, some may ask, can I compare these evils with abortion? The right to abortion is guaranteed by the federal judiciary's interpretation of the Constitution. And while the president appoints federal judges, the connection between a president's appointments and the decisions rendered by his appointees is tenuous at best. After all, in 1992, five Republican-appointed justices voted to uphold Roe v. Wade in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Yet on other intrinsic evils -- an unjust war, torture, ignoring the poor -- I can address those evils directly by changing the president.
There's another distinction that is often lost in the culture-war rhetoric on abortion: There is a difference between being pro-choice and being pro-abortion. Obama supports government action that would reduce the number of abortions, and has consistently said that "we should be doing everything we can to avoid unwanted pregnancies that might even lead somebody to consider having an abortion." He favors a "comprehensive approach where ... we are teaching the sacredness of sexuality to our children." And he wants to ensure that adopti on is an option for women who might otherwise choose abortion.
Obama worked all of that into his party's platform this year. By contrast, Republicans actually removed abortion-reduction language from their platform.
What's more, as recent data show, abortion rates drop when the social safety net is strengthened. If Obama's economic program will do more to reduce poverty than McCain's, then is it wrong to conclude that an Obama presidency will also reduce abortions? Not at all.
Every faithful Catholic agrees that abortion is an unspeakable evil that must be minimized, if not eliminated. I can help to achieve that without endorsing Republicans' immoral baggage. Overturning Roe v. Wade is not the only way to end abortion, and a vote for Obama is not somehow un-Catholic.
The U.S. bishops have urged a "different kind of political engagement," one that is "shaped by the moral convictions of well-formed consciences."
I have informed my conscience. I have weighed the facts. I have used my prudential judgment. And I conclude that it is a proper moral choice for this Catholic to support Barack Obama's candidacy.
Cafardi is dean of the Duquesne University School of Law, where he is also a tenured professor of law.
Another lawyer parsing words to justify his partisan support of the Democratic candidate. I KNOW in my heart that I cannot support the candidate that has promissed his first act as president will be to sing the Freedon of Choice act. Look it up. No state will be able to restrict partial birth abortion. No state will be allowed to require parental notification. Tax dollars will be spent for abortions. Obama has promised to sign this as his First ACT as president. Both bills are in front of the legislature just waiting for Obama.