Obama Talks Abortion In 2009 Notre Dame Commencement

Some say kudos to Notre Dame President John Jenkins for inviting Pres.Obama to speak at commencement. Kudos to Obama for confronting abortion issue. Others say Notre Dame contradicts the teaching of Catholic Church by inviting pro-choice person to address the Notre Dame 2009 graduation Commencement.

President Barack Obama visited the University of Notre Dame for Commencement and he received an Honorary Degree at the 2009 graduation ceremony. We thought the president would not touch upon the issue of abortion that has caused the protests around the Notre Dame graduation. However, surprising the president did not shy away from the controversy in his 2009 Notre Dame Commencement speech.

Let's see what the president has said during his Notre Dame Commencement speech in regard to abortion. Below we will quote those paragraphs from the Obama's 2009 Notre Dame graduation speech where he refers to abortion. The quotes are taking from the AP story published in today's Washington Post.

Thus Spoke Obama On Abortion at Notre Dame Commencement

Discussing the search for common effort on a civil debate on divisive issues such as abortion he says "Nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion.

As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called "The Audacity of Hope." A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an e-mail from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life, but that's not what was preventing him from voting for me.

What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my Web site _ an entry that said I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose." The doctor said that he had assumed I was a reasonable person, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, "I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words."

Fair-minded words.

After I read the doctor's letter, I wrote back to him and thanked him. I didn't change my position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my Web site. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that _ when we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think like we do or believe what we do _ that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.

That's when we begin to say, "Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions. So let's work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women."

Understand _ I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it _ indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory _ the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.

Few paragraphs below the the president continues his speach mentioning the former Cardinal of Chicago Joseph Bernardin who was "unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues ranging from poverty, AIDS and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war. And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring people together; always trying to find common ground."

Congratulations to all the 2009 graduates at Notre Dame and at all universities in the world. It seems that the divisive issues, while very important, have taken a part of their graduation joy from them. Perhaps the opposite, they graduate at a time when very important public and fetal right issues are being discussed.

As a disclaimer I should say that the author of this story is pro-life and defender of prenatal rights of the fetus. However, one thing that makes me wonder about the issues surrounding the 2009 Notre Dame Graduation Commencement is this: did people protest Condoleeza Rice's Notre Dame commencement speech? Isn't she "mildly pro-choice?"