Two Contrasting Perspectives on President Obama’s Presidential Order Releasing Public Funds for Abortions Overseas

In on-line news/editorials, we find two sharply contrasting perspectives on President Obama’s issuance of a presidential order lifting President Bush’s prohibition on use of United States public funds for abortion counseling and abortion “services” by family planning organizations outside of the United States.

Peter Beinart highlights President Obama’s choice to issue the order on the day after, rather than on the very day of, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, as designed to remove cultural issues from the political debate (as though divorcing culture from public discourse is either desirable or possible). Beinart quotes Obama as saying, with respect to abortion, that “[i]t’s time that we end the politicization of this issue.” (Not explained is how Obama’s approval of the use of the taxes paid by millions of Americans to pay for aborting unborn children is an effective means of “ending the politicization of this issue.”)

E.J. Dionne Jr. reports that there was “intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by Obama’s religious supporters, who asked him to put off for at least a day his executive order ending the ban on federal funds for groups involved in abortions overseas.” Dionne sees the “symbolism of the delay” as suggesting that “Obama intends to continue to poach constituencies that were once reliably Republican.” (Are people of faith now reduced to measuring progress on sanctity of unborn human life by whether new government policies promoting abortion take effect on a Friday rather than on a Thursday?)

The Vatican, however, has not been won over by Obama’s symbolic one-day delay in approving public funding for abortions overseas. Both the Times of London (here) and Time magazine (here) report that the Vatican moved quickly to condemn the action while noting that it contradicts Obama’s campaign promises to work to reduce the number of abortions. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who leads the Pontifical Academy for Life, described the presidential action as reflecting “the arrogance of those who, having power, think they can decide between life and death.” “If this is one of the first acts of President Obama,” Archbishop Fisichella said, “then with all due respect it seems to me that we are heading toward disappointment even more quickly than we thought.”

Greg Sisk