By Peter J. Smith
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY, California, September 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry gave a speech yesterday at Pepperdine University in California, calling for pro-life supporters and abortion proponents to achieve “common ground” between their irreconcilable positions over abortion. However, the dubiously “Catholic” Kerry also spliced many references to his “faith” and Catholic upbringing in his speech, in what critics contend is an attempt to weaken the pro-life movement and win back Catholic voters to the Democratic Party.
“Even as a supporter of Roe v. Wade, I am compelled to acknowledge that the language both sides use on this subject can be, unfortunately, misleading and unconstructive,” said Kerry, who insisted, “Instead of making enemies, we need to make progress.” Kerry blamed “excessive language” for polarizing Americans over abortion, and postulated that both sides can come together about issues like tax credits for adoptive parents, more government aid for working mothers, and universal health insurance.
The speech seems to be part of a wider effort of Democrats to create a wedge in the pro-life movement, and seize the political center. Currently Congressional Democrats are trying to paint the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act as pro-life legislation, contending that it will reduce abortions by making contraceptives more available, well-established as being a myth.
Kerry told the Boston Globe in an interview that he desired both sides of the abortion debate to recognize the sincerity of each other’s beliefs and “be more honest about the complexity of the moral decision here.”
Throughout his presidential campaign, Kerry (who has consistently received high marks from the abortion lobby NARAL) had asserted that he would not “undo a constitutional right” to abortion by appointing pro-life Supreme Court judges to overturn Roe v. Wade, even though he stated his belief that human life begins at conception. Many credit Kerry’s self- contradiction and support of anti-life and anti-family issues like abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and homosexual marriage as part of the reason he and Democrats suffered critical losses in the 2004 federal elections.
Adding to Kerry’s public self-contradictions, are his recent efforts to publicize his “Catholic faith”, which contradicts starkly his support of anti-life and anti-family legislation. The move seems to be an effort to court Catholic voters won by Bush and Republicans in 2004.
The Pew Research Center showed that Kerry lost a majority of Catholic voters by 5 points to President Bush, who spoke of his own personal faith and adopted Pope John Paul’s phrase of building a “culture of life” into his platform.
“For 12 years I wandered in the wilderness, went through a divorce, and struggled with questions about my direction,” Kerry told his audience at Pepperdine. “Then, suddenly and movingly, I had a revelation about the connection between the work I was doing as a public servant and my formative teachings.”
While Kerry contends that he made it through “the wilderness”, leaders of the Catholic Church including Archbishop Raymond Burke believe that the senator’s persistent support of abortion and anti-life policies remain inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Faith. Burke and others have called for Kerry and other pro-abortion politicians to be denied Holy Communion in the Church.
See related LifeSiteNews.com reports:
Kerry “Personally Opposed” to Assisted Suicide But Will Not Oppose Oregon Euthanasia Law
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04051903.html
Kerry’s Defiance the Best Thing to Happen to Catholic Church in North America?
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/040511b.html
Abortion is Pro-Life Suggests Kerry in Latest Democrat Parody of Pro-Life Language
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020404.html
Likely Democrat Presidential Candidate Kerry – A Textbook Pro-Abortion Catholic
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/040204a.html
Archbishop Burke Says No Communion for Pro-abortion Kerry Even If He Becomes President
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04020205.html