WASHINGTON — President Obama today ventures to America's foremost Roman Catholic university, where the country's deep divisions over abortion and stem-cell research have moved to the forefront in a time of war and recession.
A storm blew up immediately after the University of Notre Dame invited Obama to address today's commencement exercises. It still rages, with anti-abortion activists promising to disrupt the president's appearance, where he was to receive an honorary degree.
Students opposed to abortion rights were holding an all-night prayer vigil to protest Obama's visit. Earlier Saturday, more than 100 protesters gathered and 23 marched onto the campus. Police say they arrested 19 for trespassing and four were also charged with resisting law enforcement.
Obama supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare. At Notre Dame, he finds himself at the vortex of the abortion rights controversy that has riven U.S. society for decades.
Recriminations against Obama's appearance in South Bend, Ind., have echoed across the Internet, on cable television and newspaper editorial pages.
The Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations hold that abortion or the use of embryos for stem cell research amounts to the destruction of human life, is morally wrong and should be banned by law.
The contrary argument holds that women have the right to terminate any pregnancy and that unused embryos created outside the womb for couples who cannot otherwise conceive should be available for stem cell research. Such research holds the promise of finding treatments for some of mankind's most debilitating ailments.
Within weeks of taking office in January, Obama eased a Bush administration executive order that limited this research to a small number of stem-cell strains that existed when President George W. Bush issued his stem cell directive.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama in his commencement speech "obviously would make mention of the debate that's been had" over abortion, while emphasizing that "this is exactly the kind of give and take that is had on college campus all over the country."
Obama's appearance at Notre Dame would appear to be complicated by new polls that show Americans' attitudes on the issue have shifted toward the anti-abortion position.
A Gallup survey released Friday found that 51 percent of those questioned call themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42 percent "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as "pro-life" since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
Just a year ago, Gallup found that 50 percent termed themselves "pro-choice" while 44 percent described their beliefs as "pro-life."
A Pew Research Center survey found a similar, if less dramatic, shift, with public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.
Pew said its latest polling found that 28 percent said abortion should be legal in most cases while 18 percent said all cases. Forty-four percent of those surveyed were opposed to abortion in most or all cases.
Gallup said shifting opinions lay almost entirely with Republicans or independents who lean Republican, with opposition among those groups rising over the past year from 60 percent to 70 percent.
The abortion issue also is front and center as Obama considers potential nominees to fill the vacancy left by the retirement this summer of Justice David Souter. Abortion opponents are determined to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, but only four court justices out of nine have backed that position. Souter has opposed arguments for overturning the ruling.
The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, has not joined the debate that erupted after Obama's invitation. A leading Catholic scholar, citing the Obama invitation and honorary degree, declined the school's most prestigious award, making this year's commencement the first time that the Laetare Medal hasn't been given out since 1883.
"It is clear that Notre Dame didn't understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation," Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said after the university announced Obama's appearance.
Friends and colleagues say Jenkins has listened to the criticism, but is confident in his decision.
"He respects people who differ, but he's resolute in his decision because he did it based on conscience and what he really believes in," said Richard Notebaert, chairman of Notre Dame's board of trustees.
Notebaert said Jenkins, who is in the fourth year of a five-year term, has the "full support" of the trustees.
That hasn't soothed critics, who question whether Notre Dame has lost touch with its Catholic roots. Calls for Jenkins' ouster have grown louder amid protests by abortion opponents, who have flown pictures of aborted fetuses over campus and paraded dolls smeared in fake blood outside a recent trustees' meeting. Dozens of anti-abortion activists have been arrested, and more arrests were likely as protesters converge on the campus for commencement weekend.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...tre-dame18-2009may18,0,393256.story?track=rss
A storm blew up immediately after the University of Notre Dame invited Obama to address today's commencement exercises. It still rages, with anti-abortion activists promising to disrupt the president's appearance, where he was to receive an honorary degree.
Students opposed to abortion rights were holding an all-night prayer vigil to protest Obama's visit. Earlier Saturday, more than 100 protesters gathered and 23 marched onto the campus. Police say they arrested 19 for trespassing and four were also charged with resisting law enforcement.
Obama supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare. At Notre Dame, he finds himself at the vortex of the abortion rights controversy that has riven U.S. society for decades.
Recriminations against Obama's appearance in South Bend, Ind., have echoed across the Internet, on cable television and newspaper editorial pages.
The Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations hold that abortion or the use of embryos for stem cell research amounts to the destruction of human life, is morally wrong and should be banned by law.
The contrary argument holds that women have the right to terminate any pregnancy and that unused embryos created outside the womb for couples who cannot otherwise conceive should be available for stem cell research. Such research holds the promise of finding treatments for some of mankind's most debilitating ailments.
Within weeks of taking office in January, Obama eased a Bush administration executive order that limited this research to a small number of stem-cell strains that existed when President George W. Bush issued his stem cell directive.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama in his commencement speech "obviously would make mention of the debate that's been had" over abortion, while emphasizing that "this is exactly the kind of give and take that is had on college campus all over the country."
Obama's appearance at Notre Dame would appear to be complicated by new polls that show Americans' attitudes on the issue have shifted toward the anti-abortion position.
A Gallup survey released Friday found that 51 percent of those questioned call themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42 percent "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as "pro-life" since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
Just a year ago, Gallup found that 50 percent termed themselves "pro-choice" while 44 percent described their beliefs as "pro-life."
A Pew Research Center survey found a similar, if less dramatic, shift, with public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.
Pew said its latest polling found that 28 percent said abortion should be legal in most cases while 18 percent said all cases. Forty-four percent of those surveyed were opposed to abortion in most or all cases.
Gallup said shifting opinions lay almost entirely with Republicans or independents who lean Republican, with opposition among those groups rising over the past year from 60 percent to 70 percent.
The abortion issue also is front and center as Obama considers potential nominees to fill the vacancy left by the retirement this summer of Justice David Souter. Abortion opponents are determined to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, but only four court justices out of nine have backed that position. Souter has opposed arguments for overturning the ruling.
The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, has not joined the debate that erupted after Obama's invitation. A leading Catholic scholar, citing the Obama invitation and honorary degree, declined the school's most prestigious award, making this year's commencement the first time that the Laetare Medal hasn't been given out since 1883.
"It is clear that Notre Dame didn't understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation," Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said after the university announced Obama's appearance.
Friends and colleagues say Jenkins has listened to the criticism, but is confident in his decision.
"He respects people who differ, but he's resolute in his decision because he did it based on conscience and what he really believes in," said Richard Notebaert, chairman of Notre Dame's board of trustees.
Notebaert said Jenkins, who is in the fourth year of a five-year term, has the "full support" of the trustees.
That hasn't soothed critics, who question whether Notre Dame has lost touch with its Catholic roots. Calls for Jenkins' ouster have grown louder amid protests by abortion opponents, who have flown pictures of aborted fetuses over campus and paraded dolls smeared in fake blood outside a recent trustees' meeting. Dozens of anti-abortion activists have been arrested, and more arrests were likely as protesters converge on the campus for commencement weekend.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...tre-dame18-2009may18,0,393256.story?track=rss
