Catholics Protest Award For Supreme Court Justice Breyer Because Of Support For Abortion Rights

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 29 Oct 2008 - 6:00 PST

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Plans by Fordham University to present the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer have drawn protests from the Catholic university's alumni and the leader of the Catholic Church in New York over Breyer's support of abortion rights in Supreme Court rulings, the AP/Boston Globe reports.

According to the Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative Catholic group leading the protest, more than 1,100 Fordham alumni and others have signed a petition calling for the university to revoke the award. In addition, New York Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling said that Cardinal Edward Egan has spoken to Fordham's leaders to ensure "that a mistake of this sort will not happen again."Although Breyer is not Catholic, the Cardinal Newman Society -- which opposes efforts by Catholic colleges to honor people who do not share the church's antiabortion position -- points to the fact that Breyer in 2000 wrote the majority opinion in a case that struck down a Nebraska law banning certain abortion procedures and dissented in the 2007 case that upheld a federal law banning the same abortion procedures. The organization also has criticized appearances by Catholic academics who have endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.)

The AP/Boston Globe reports that Breyer is scheduled to accept the award tomorrow at a dinner in New York and will be the seventh justice to receive the award. Of the six other justices, five voted in support of abortion rights while on the bench, and their awards drew no apparent protests (Sherman, AP/Boston Globe, 10/28).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.