---

Bishop Warns of Obama’s Promise to Implement Extreme “Freedom of Choice Act”

By Jonquil Frankham

PATERSON, New Jersey, October 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, NJ penned a column for his diocesan website this week, warning his diocese of the possible implementation of the radical Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), particularly under a possible Obama presidency.

In the article Bishop Serratelli compares Barack Obama to King Herod, the king during the life of Christ who ordered the beheading of John the Baptist in order to keep a promise he had made to Salome. Much like Herod, writes Serratelli, Obama has made a promise - to pass the Freedom of Choice Act. However, should Obama keep this promise, “not only will many of our freedoms as Americans be taken from us, but the innocent and vulnerable will spill their blood.”

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is a bill introduced in the United States Congress in 2004. It would remove all restrictions on abortion in the United States, both on the state and federal level. “FOCA goes far beyond guaranteeing the right to an abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy. It arrogantly prohibits any law or policy interfering with that right,” says Bishop Serratelli. This is the “dark reality” kept secret by propagandists for ‘choice.’

The bill is strongly supported by presidential candidate Barack Obama, who promised in a speech for Planned Parenthood that “the first thing he would do as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”

Among those no longer free to choose under FOCA, says the bishop, would be pro-life doctors and nurses, whose freedom of conscience is currently protected under the law. Religious hospitals and clinics would also be forced to perform abortions up until the birth of the baby.

NARAL America presents the bill as a systematic presentation of Roe vs. Wade, but opponents like Bishop Serratelli note that it would eliminate those restrictions the 1973 court case allowed, such as parental consent, waiting periods, information for mothers regarding emotional and psychological dangers, and restrictions on late-term abortions.

The bishop hails the death of freedom, should FOCA get passed. “Gone the freedom of conscience so essential for a civil society,” the bishop tells his readers. “Gone the freedom of women and young girls to have all the information they need to make their own choices!”

The bill would also “force taxpayers to fund abortions,” thereby nullifying the fundamental American policy of taxation with representation. It would also “redefine a woman’s ‘health’ so as to expressly permit post-viability abortions.” The bishop clarifies, “Thus, a child who survives an abortion can be left to die for the health of the mother … This is infanticide. Gone the freedom of her baby, once born, to live!”

Pro-Abortion advocates’ “zeal for the Freedom of Choice Act,” Bishop Serratelli writes, “sounds the alarm for decent Americans to wake up! The more the right to life is denied, the more we lose our freedoms. The ‘pro-choice’ movement is not pro-choice. It stands against the freedom to choose what is right according to the truth of the human person... At this point, we are still free to choose!”

You may find the bishop’s column at http://www.patersondiocese.org/page.cfm?Web_ID=2752

 Back to Top

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.