Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Dangerous Days Ahead

According to Michael Brendan Dougherty writing in the American Conservative magazine, the Obama administration portends great danger to the pro-life movement. A tidal wave of change will soon hit the arenas of healthcare mandates, federal funding for abortion, and the composition of delegations to UN conferences. Indeed, everything pro-lifers have worked for since Roe is now at risk.

As Francis Stafford recently asserted, Obama’s “extremist anti-life platform is aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic. On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake.”

According to Dougherty, such pessimism is altogether warranted. "Obama’s commitment to serve pro-choice interests means that many of his larger agenda items will have abortion-related components. He has pledged that any healthcare reform package he proposes will require employer-provided plans to include coverage of abortion. He has also promised to overturn restrictions on money for fetal stem-cell research."

But, that is not all. "Obama has unambiguously pledged to appoint pro-Roe justices to the Supreme Court." And then there is the matter of foreign policy. Obama's pledge to reverse the Mexico City Policy “would greatly increase abortions around the world. It would also create a scenario in which American evangelicals and Catholics would be paying for abortion referrals through their tax dollars.”

All in all, Dougherty says, " there is plenty for us to do in the days ahead." Plenty indeed.