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Obama potential vp pick is most extreme pro-abortion Catholic governor

Columnist Rovert Novak calls her "the national pro-choice poster girl.”

By Peter J. Smith

TOPEKA, Kansas, May 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is one candidate on a short-list of potential running mates for Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, but if the decision came down to who has the most radical commitment to the abortion agenda, Sebelius leads the pack.

The Kansas governor’s name was among the top three possibilities mentioned on a shortlist of vice-presidential candidates given to the Associated Press by Democratic operatives. Democratic analysts see Sebelius as a valuable pick, since she could offer Obama her executive expertise as a state governor, and could bring female voters dismayed by the defeat of Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential contender seeking to be the first female president of the United States.

Yet Sebelius’ strongest point on her political resumé – radical pro-abortion policies that match or even rival Obama’s own commitment to abortion – may also be her greatest political liability, bringing back echoes of John Kerry. A self-professed Catholic, Sebelius’ repeated vetoes of pro-life legislation and devoted patronage of notorious Wichita late-term abortionist George Tiller have embroiled her in a public battle with Kansas City Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann.

The archbishop has publicly informed the governor to refrain from receiving Holy Communion. Naumann said that Sebelius is giving Catholics a “spiritually lethal message” that the Church’s teaching on abortion is optional, and told her to repudiate her policies publicly, before he took further pastoral action against her to correct this scandal.

However columnist Robert Novak pointed out that “Kansas is the fiercest state battleground for abortion wars, making Sebelius the national pro-choice poster girl.”

Novak wrote that Sebelius sits at the top of a colossal machine of abortion politics involving heavy financing from abortionist George Tiller in the realm of over a hundred thousand dollars. In fact, Sebelius invited Tiller to the governor’s mansion to thank him for helping her defeat her pro-life rivals, including former state attorney general Phil Kline. Novak noted this action was another sharp incongruity for someone who justified her 2006 veto of a pro-life bill by stating: "My Catholic faith teaches me that life is sacred. Personally, I believe abortion is wrong."

Archbishop Naumann crossed swords publicly with Sebelius ever since she took that step of identifying herself as a Catholic governor who would veto pro-life legislation.  Naumann then said that nothing in Sebelius’ political career suggests that she ever took any action to defend life. In fact, her political career shows Sebelius has been informed by anything but her Catholic faith.

The most recent addition to the Govenor's abortion resumé was her April veto of Senate Bill 389. The bill would have offered women the option of viewing ultrasound images of their unborn child, tightened up the requirements for obtaining a late-term abortion, and allowed a patient, spouse, or family to sue an abortion provider over a suspected unlawful late-term abortion.

In 2006, Sebelius vetoed Senate Bill 528, which would have required documentation justifying the performance of late-term abortions.  In 2003, Sebelius also vetoed HB 2176, the Abortion Clinic Licensing bill, which would have required abortionists to follow minimum safety and health-standards at their clinics. Sebelius justified her veto saying that Kansans enjoyed some of the highest standards of health-care; a statement belied by the fact that the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts would revoke the medical license of an abortionist in 2005 for the criminally negligent hygienic state of his clinic. http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05061412.html

If Obama picks Sebelius as his running mate, he will certainly have created a strong pro-abortion presidential ticket for the Democratic Party. However, Archbishop Naumann’s actions may make Sebelius a political risk with the Democratic Party’s Catholic base in the 2008 election. The debate over Holy Communion for pro-abortion Catholics that erupted in John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run is said to have hurt his standing with Catholics, who swung that election toward President Bush and his pro-life policies.

See many photos of late-term abortionist George Tiller with Sibelius on the Operation Rescue website
http://operationrescue.org/photos/main.php?g2_navId=x5514f760

Read Robert Novak’s column in the Sun Times:

Church, potential Obama VP at odds on abortion
http://www.suntimes.com/news/novak/970274,CST-EDT-novak26.article

See Archbishop Naumann's full article on the issue:

Governor’s Veto Prompts Pastoral Action
http://www.theleaven.com/columnists/archbishop_naumann.htm

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Archbishop Publicly Tells Pro-Abortion Kansas Governor Not to Receive Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051001.html

Abortion-Politician-Communion Scandal Shows Real Lack of Pastoral Concern - Editorial
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052102.html

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