US President Barack Obama was to speak at the US’ foremost Roman Catholic University yesterday, where deep divisions over abortion and stem-cell research have rammed to the forefront in a country fighting two wars and battling a withering economic recession.
A storm broke out immediately after Notre Dame invited Obama to address commencement exercises and he accepted. It still rages, with anti-abortion activists promising to disrupt the president’s appearance at the ceremony, where he also is to receive an honorary degree.
Obama, a liberal Democrat who supports abortion rights but who says the procedure should be rare, finds himself caught in the so-called “right to life” whirlwind that has riven US society for decades, especially since the US Supreme Court ruled in the 1973 that states may not ban abortion.
PHOTO: AFP
Recriminations against Obama’s appearance in South Bend, Indiana, are zinging across the Internet, on cable TV and the editorial space of newspapers.
Earlier in the day at the school’s front gate, more than 100 people gathered to protest the decision to invite Obama to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree.
More than 100 people gathered on Saturday to protest the decision to invite Obama.
PHOTO: AP
Shortly after noon, 23 protesters marched on to campus. Nineteen were arrested on trespassing charges and four also faced a charge of resisting law enforcement, a St. Joseph County Police Department spokesman said. They were being held on US$250 bond. None were students.
Among those arrested was the Reverend Norman Weslin, a Catholic priest and founder of the Lambs of Christ abortion protest group.
He also was among 21 people arrested during a similar protest on Friday.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama in his commencement speech “obviously would make mention of the debate that’s been had” over abortion, while emphasizing that “this is exactly the kind of give and take that is had on college campus all over the country.”
Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame would appear to be complicated significantly by new polls that show Americans’ attitudes on the explosive issue have shifted dramatically toward the anti-abortion position.
A Gallup survey released on Friday found that 51 percent of Americans call themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42 percent “pro-choice.”
This is the first time a majority of US adults have identified themselves as “pro-life” since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
It’s a dramatic shift from just a year ago when Gallup found that 50 percent of those polled termed themselves “pro-choice” while 44 percent described their beliefs as “pro-life.”
A Pew Research Center survey found a similar, if less dramatic, shift, with public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.
Pew said its latest polling found that 46 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in most (28 percent) or all cases (18 percent). Forty-four percent of those surveyed were opposed to abortion in most (28 percent) or all cases (16 percent).
Gallup said shifting opinions on the divisive issue lay almost entirely with Republicans or independents who lean Republican, with opposition among those groups rising over the past year from 60 percent to 70 percent.
“There has been essentially no change in the views of Democrats and Democratic leaners,” Gallup said.
The Reverend John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, has not joined the fiery debate that erupted after Obama’s invitation, but it has produced extraordinary blow back among some students, faculty, alumni and at least 70 Catholic bishops.
A leading Catholic academic, citing the Obama invitation and honorary degree, declined the school’s most prestigious award, making this year’s commencement the first time that the Laetare Medal hasn’t been awarded since 1883.
Friends and colleagues say Jenkins has listened to the criticism but is confident in his decision.
“He respects people who differ, but he’s resolute in his decision because he did it based on conscience and what he really believes in,” said Richard Notebaert, chairman of Notre Dame’s board of trustees.
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