Wednesday January 27, 2010
Congressman Smith Blasts Abortion-“Obsessed” Obama – Calls for Prayer and Fasting
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 27, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Obsessed.” The word best encapsulates President Barack Obama’s attitude toward abortion, says New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. Smith is calling on the pro-life movement to engage in “prayer and fasting” to stop Obama’s virulently pro-abortion agenda and end the cover-up of the effects of abortion on women and their unborn children.
The New Jersey Republican is among the most outspoken pro-life legislators on Capitol Hill, and made his remarks during the 2010 March for Life in Washington, D.C.
In a video interview with CNSNews.com, Smith told a reporter that Obama is “so obsessed with promoting abortion” and has litmus-tested “all the gatekeepers of government” on abortion.
“This is an unprecedented pro-abortion administration. Clinton was awful. It is even worse under President Obama.”
For Smith, President Obama’s aggressive determination to remove all existing pro-life policy and protections from U.S. law and regulations deserves him the title, “the Abortion President.”
He told CNSNews that far from becoming “complacent,” pro-life advocates must redouble their pro-life ministries and educational efforts, but most importantly must “pray, fast, and pray for Obama” – a theme he vigorously repeated in his address to the hundreds of thousands of pro-life demonstrators rallying before the March for Life.
In remarks also directed at Obama, Smith reminded pro-life advocates that the president has “unleashed the full might and power of [his] administration in the ignoble promotion of abortion on demand, both in the United States and around the world, especially in Africa and Latin America.”
At the same time, Smith stated clearly the pro-life response: “we do pray and fast for you, even as we tenaciously fight your anti-life policies.”
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, prayer and fasting are considered the two pillars of the spiritual response to grave evil, and are considered a source of spiritual strength. And strength is exactly what the pro-life movement needs to expose what Smith called the “abortion cover-up” – not to only expose the sacrificed lives and humanity of 52 million unborn children “dismembered or chemically poisoned or starved to death since 1973,” but also expose the what Smith said is the lie that abortion is “safe for women.”
“Safe for women? At least 102 studies show significant psychological harm, major depression and even higher incidences of suicide in women who abort. This has been covered up,” declared the Congressman.
“At least 28 studies – including three in 2009 – show that an abortion increases the risk of breast cancer by some 30-40 percent or more, yet the abortion industry has largely succeeded here as well in suppressing those facts.”
Smith cited the recent U.S. study by Jessice Dolle of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center which “demonstrated that abortion raises breast cancer risk by 40 percent,” a conclusion reached by separate studies in Turkey and China. In fact, one of the U.S. study’s authors was Louise Brinton, “a chief organizer of the 2003 National Cancer Institute (NCI) workshop denying the link.”
“Abortion, safe?” asked Smith once again. “At least 113 studies show a dramatic association between abortion and preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies – 36 percent after one abortion, a staggering 93 percent after two,” leading to babies with low birth rates.
“Prematurity and low birth weight are leading causes of disability in children,” Smith emphasized.
“With indomitable trust in God, we today recommit and reiterate our resolve to pray, fast and work to protect and enfranchise all, regardless of age, race, sex, disability, wantedness or condition of dependency.”