By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Obama Administration has claimed that a new Health and Human Services fund helping pregnant teens delivers on President Obama's promise to seek “common ground” on abortion in his “seminal” speech on the issue at the University of Notre Dame.
CNN reported Friday that, in an email to nonprofit organizations from Obama announcing the initiative to nonprofit groups, the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships praised the fund as “another critical step in the President's vision for common ground.”
“It was only a year ago that President Obama gave a seminal speech at Notre Dame urging our nation to find common ground on the issue of abortion and unintended pregnancies,” said the email. “The Pregnancy Assistance Fund is a competitive grant program established by the Affordable Care Act to assist women who have decided to carry their pregnancies to term and those who are parenting.”
President Obama's speech at Notre Dame last year was decried as a major scandal by the pro-life community, particularly Catholics, who objected to the pro-abortion president's being honored with the commencement address and an honorary law degree at the nation's premiere Catholic University. Obama took the opportunity to lecture Notre Dame graduates not to “demonize” proponents of the destruction of unborn life, but instead strive to use “fair-minded words” when discussing the issue.
Concerned Women for America president Wendy Wright later revealed that the White House has admitted that its goal is not to “reduce the number of abortions,” but only to reduce the “need” for abortion.
The fund, established by the federal health care legislation Obama signed into law in March, makes available $25 million to states to support pregnant and parenting teens. But among other abortion-expanding measures, another section of the legislation unleashed not a few million, but billions in taxpayer funds to abortion providers through the Community Health Centers program. When all programs are accounted for, the administration is also spending billions more to fund abortion in developing nations.
The health department's press release announcing that it would begin accepting applications for the fund did not mention abortion.
CNN reports that the initiative won praise from Democrats for Life executive director Kristen Day, while receiving skepticism from other pro-life groups. Carrie Gordon Earll, a spokeswoman for Citizenlink, told CNN that “It would be inaccurate to characterize it as 'abortion common ground' since it doesn't specifically address abortion.”
Planned Parenthood has also reportedly expressed support for the measure.
“Pro-life and pro-choice people have gotten behind it, so it's a good first step at reducing abortion and providing support for healthier babes and mothers,” said Day of Democrats for Life.
Day told CNN that the fund promised a political advantage to Democrats, who have “been working on common ground around abortion for a long time because we want to take it away as a wedge issue.”