President Obama won the Catholic vote in November. Supporting the Obama candidacy were many Catholic intellectuals and academicians who stated that a President Obama would promote the reduction of abortions through his support and funding of social programs.
This idea was brought forth despite Obama’s unequivocal and long record of supporting abortion.
The logic of these Catholic Obama supporters suggested that the tax cuts of the Bush administration resulted in cutting of government spending resulting in an increase in the number of abortions. Obama would restore full funding of welfare and other social programs and seemingly abortions would decrease. In offering this new paradigm for the pro-life movement they suggested that political support for a candidate who promised to reduce abortion through social programs rather than legal restrictions was acceptable even for Catholics.
While it is still very early in the Obama Administration, the signs are not good for those who want to reduce the number of abortions. In his first week in office, President Obama has reversed the Mexico City policy established in 1984 to ensure that family planning funds would not be used to promote abortion in foreign countries. He has pledged millions of dollars for family planning which will include funding for abortion in his stimulus package now before Congress. The president is fully expected to overturn the ban on federal funding of immoral embryonic stem cell research this week. Clearly the signs of change have swept into Washington on many levels and as promised on the campaign trail the culture of Washington is changing.
President Obama and his Catholic allies promised the reduction of abortion through helping low-income families by removing the Bush tax cuts and restoring full funding and financial support to social programs. We are still waiting for the promised reduction. In the meantime, Catholics and those who advance the culture of life have been politely asked to wait in the parlor of the White House while the agents of Washington’s new culture, a culture of death, get their spoils with federally financed abortion not only in the United States but also across the globe. Culture change certainly has come to Washington, hasn’t it?
