Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani’s recent statement on abortion, and Senator Bob Casey’s position on embryonic stem cell research:
“Catholics who accept the teachings of the Catholic Church on the life issues have every reason to be angry with Rudy Giuliani’s pledge to maintain taxpayer-funded abortions if elected president. His overall position on abortion is incoherent. He says he is now opposed to partial-birth abortion except to save the life of the mother, would appoint ‘strict constructionist’ judges and says he personally ‘hates’ abortion.
“Giuliani has no need to qualify his opposition to partial-birth abortion: the American Medical Association has determined that there is never a medical need for this type of abortion. Moreover, if he appoints the kinds of judges he says he will appoint, it is not likely they will uphold the wholly contrived right to abortion-on-demand. So why not simply say that Roe v. Wade invented a right that nowhere appears in the Constitution? And if he ‘hates’ abortion, what exactly is it that he hates about it? And why does he want to impose on the public the burden of paying for something that is constitutionally suspect and morally repugnant?
“When running for the senate seat in Pennsylvania, Casey would not commit on how he would vote on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. Now he says he’s against it. This is good news. It makes it all the more difficult for him to later renege on his pro-life position on abortion, and thus should be welcomed by practicing Catholics in both parties.
“Catholics look to people like Giuliani and Casey to promote a culture of life. Giuliani’s mixed signals are in need of repair. Casey is off to a good start.”
