Catholic Groups Use Obama's Notre Dame Speech To Draw Attention To Antiabortion-Rights Cause

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 14 May 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Catholic groups and abortion-rights opponents have started daily protests at the University of Notre Dame in opposition to the university's invitation to President Obama to receive an honorary degree and deliver a speech at the university's commencement ceremony next week, the Washington Post reports. The protests include tactics such as flying an airplane with an antiabortion banner over the campus, posting billboards in areas around the campus and running radio advertisements encouraging advocates to engage in acts of civil disobedience with the aim of getting arrested. According to the Post, the protests come at a time when the antiabortion-rights movement is increasingly divided over goals and tactics, and the groups see Obama's speech as an opportunity "to challenge the president on turf hospitable to their cause."

Various Catholic leaders and antiabortion-rights groups for months have criticized Notre Dame's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, for inviting Obama, saying that the Catholic university should not honor a president who supports abortion rights. At least 74 Catholic bishops openly opposed the invitation, and more than 360,000 people signed a petition calling for Jenkins to retract the invitation because of the president's support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

When asked about a small number of Notre Dame students who might boycott the commencement ceremony, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday said that "it's important to understand it appears as if the vast majority of students and the majority of Catholics are supportive of the invitation the president accepted, and I know he's greatly looking forward to it." Students on the campus say the majority of students favor Obama's appearance (Slevin/Salmon, Washington Post, 5/13).

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