To the editor:
On October 7, 1979, John Paul II, in his first visit to the United States as pope, spoke at the Mall in Washington, D.C., and said the following words: “We will stand up and proclaim that no one has the authority to destroy unborn human life.”
Almost 30 years later, on February 5, 2009, President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., for the National Prayer Breakfast said these astonishing words: “There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.”
My question is this. Which one of these two men have lived up to these profound and truthful statements? The late pope or our current president?
The answer is easy. Pope John Paul II spent his entire pontificate defending the dignity of every human life from conception until natural death. He knew that all human life was a gift and that we are all created in the image of God.
President Barack Obama has a long record of supporting and defending abortion rights both as a senator from Illinois and within his first week as president, he issued an executive order rescinding the “Mexico City Policy” which had banned federal funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions.
There is no more innocent human being than an unborn child living and growing in his or her mother’s womb and for the president to make that remark at the National Prayer Breakfast reeks with hypocrisy.
As we reflect on the recent actions by the boards of UW Hospital and the Madison Surgery Center approving of second-trimester abortions at their clinic, let us remember the words above of our late pope and our current president. “We must stand up and proclaim that no one has the authority to destroy unborn human life” and “There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being.”
If the Madison Surgery Center goes ahead with these plans for second-trimester abortions, then they must change their name to the MADISON KILLING CENTER, because that’s exactly what they would be doing.
Patrick Hardyman, Blanchardville