President Bush Files for Divorce with Catholic Base
Catholic Pro-Life Leader states: “President Bush’s implied support for the abortion-causing drug Plan B is completely inconsistent with his recent veto of the embryonic stem cell research funding bill”
FRONT ROYAL, Va., Aug. 21 /Christian Newswire/ — The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, issued the following response to President George W. Bush’s statements today regarding his support for Andrew von Eschenbach and his recent decision to seek over-the-counter (OTC) status for the abortifacient drug Plan B. When asked by reporter Bill Sammon about the situation, Bush stated: “I believe that Plan B ought to be — ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe. And I support Andy’s decision.”
“President Bush’s implied support for the abortion-causing drug Plan B is completely inconsistent with his recent veto of the embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) funding bill. What the president apparently fails to realize is that Plan B kills the same innocent unborn children that the ESCR process does.
“The president must demonstrate a consistent respect for the sanctity of all human life or he risks provoking a great divorce with the conservative Catholics that compromise a large part of his support base. Human beings in the embryonic stage of development deserve equal protection under the law and the president’s position falls far short of that mark.
“I reiterate my call for President Bush to withdraw his nomination of Andrew von Eschenbach for FDA commissioner and I implore him to rethink his own reckless approach to the powerful abortion-causing Plan B drug regimen.”
Just last month on the ESCR veto the President said "It crosses a moral boundary that our society needs to respect, so I vetoed it,". So by this logic killing embryos for research is wrong but it is okay if you have a prescription. The President also said ". Each of these human embryos is a unique human life with inherent dignity and matchless value." But that was then and this is now, I mean gee a whole month has passed.
And why exactly by this logic are regular birth control pills not sold OTC? After all Plan B is just a more potent dose or these pills. It makes no sense that the one with the higher dosage and greater chance of complications is the one that doesn’t require a prescription. Contraception has always been the weakness for a large part of conservatives that decry abortion, ESCR, but give abortifacient contraceptives a pass. An inconsistent life ethic is what we have had and will continue to have.
15 comments
At least he can’t run again.
From now on, I’m voting for the most radical pro-lifer only. It’s a good indication of all other issues.
Man, I hate voting for the evil of two lessers.
Do you really expect Bush to come out in opposition to a drug that a large percentage of American women are on (albeit at lower dosages)? Politicians are politicians: except for those who have no chance of winning office, they will invariably only take principle so far. Political suicide is past that line.
un-stinking-believable. Is he an idiot, or is he just trying to break the record of an approval rating of ZERO. I can’t believe this, some kids will just use these things as birth control. I hope he is willing to accept all the carnage these pills will have on young kids.
I’m extremely disappointed in President Bush.
He’s absolutely contradicting himself.
God help him.
We must continue to keep him in our prayers.
I have one word to say:
Sh*t.
This ticks me off so much. WHY SHOULD HE EVEN CARE IF ALL AMERICAN WOMEN USE IT. He doesn’t need to get re-elected. There shouldn’t be ANY politics involved but him following the moral conscience he has. He’s missing a great opportunity to help inform the public, in the same way he has been doing with ESCR. It’s plain stupidity – not politics.
If anything, he’s in dept to the pharmaceutical company who makes the morning after pill and they’re lobbying him because they supported him in the last election.
It’s all about the Party, gang, it’s to keep the GOP from losing any more of the feminist vote than they already have. It’ll keep Arnold and Rudy happy and in the GOP. Remember, the Republican Party is not a Catholic party, and they are under no extraordinary obedience to the Catechism. Heck, we can’t even get ‘Catholics’ in the Democratic party to uphold Catholic teaching, and neither will their bishops call them to task for it.
Government is a game in which the Devil owns the entire deck.
It’s not even good politics. As is witnessed by the reaction on St. Blog’s, the number of conservative voters Bush has angered over this decision will outweigh the left-wingers he’s appeased. In fact, dollars to donuts he gets NO credit from this from the secularists. Thus, the political calculation itself is quite off.
I bought his pro-life spheel for 6 years! What a rube I have been. I had been saying, this guy is different, he truly respects life (at least life that is pre-born.
I AM A CHUMP! There is a gallon of water behind my ears.
Most people are unaware of the fact that estrogen is a carcinogen–even in mild doses and that hormonal contraceptives increase the risk of developing breast cancer, as does abortion, not to mention the other myriad known side effects.
The greatest concern about Plan B pills of those who actually work with young women in crisis pregnancies is the potential for young pregnant women in the earliest stage of pregnancy to be given the pill without their consent. The fact that many forced abortions occur is a dirty secret already. Parents, the fathers of unwanted babies, and sexual predators are all known to sometimes put tremendous pressure on young women to abort, and the potential for misuse of the drug is inherent in the ease of buying it over the counter and of administering it.
Having young women rely on an OTC pill that is more dangerous than birth control pills which require a prescription is frightening for all of these reasons.
I, for one, was extremely disappointed with President Bush. The long-term harm, physical, emotional, and spiritual, accrued by our young women who are told that contraception, abortion, and now Plan B is as safe as taking an aspirin, will have too many consequences that will come home to roost in the near future.
They already are if you talk with these young girls who don’t even know that real love, as opposed to exploitative love can and does exist.
This is just another example as to why we should pray godly men like Mike Pence into the White House!
I believe that abortion was given to us by God because, for whatever reason, Christians thought they were “above” being involved in the filth and degredation of politics…thus allowing the ungodly to take over and run our nation.
Since R v Wade, Christians have mobilized and become politically involved.
This current setback is another clear message to us all that we can’t give up the fight. We need to expunge the wicked from our midst.
Remember…General Patton’s speech when he said to his men, “many years from now, you’ll be sitting with your grandson on your knee and he’ll ask you, “What did you do in the Big War granpa? Do you want to be able to say that I fought with that S.O.B. Patton or that ‘I shovelled horse $hit in Louisiana?”
Well, let’s quit shovelling horse $hit and be about winning this war!
“Government is a game in which the Devil owns the entire deck.”
Great line!
Calm down, please.
There has not yet been any decision by the FDA guy actually to make Plan B available OTC. There has been a decision to consider this.
We know already that Bush is against given the pro-Pill crowd all they want – since he says he’s against OTC sales to minors – and they want OTC sales to everyone, minors as well as adults.
In fact, part of the FDA’s reason for not approving OTC Plan B so far is that there’s doubt that, in practice, OTC sales could be restricted to adults. (You’ll note that lots of kids manage to get alcohol, despite drinking-age laws.)
When the FDA actually says it’s gonna permit OTC sales (to adults or to everyone), and Bush approves, then it’ll be time to get mad at him.
But let’s not jump the gun.
By all means – pressure him to prevent such a decision.
But please don’t criticize him on the basis of a misunderstanding of the decision that has been made to this point.
Oh please, stop the
I didn’t see where he supported the drug being over the counter. What I did see was him saying it ought to be a perscription for miners. That is a practical step to reduce abortion in the reality of abortion on demand.
President Bush also supports parental consent for minors to have an abortion. It is a practical step in the reality of abortion on demand. By the logic used by the alarmist here you have to assume he implies approval of abortion and he clearly does not except in the case of rape. Now if you want to complain about the rape exception then you have something to fret about.
Dated today, Aug. 24, 2006
Reuters: “U.S. OKs wider access for Barr “morning-after” pill “
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060824/hl_nm/contraceptive_dc_1
I volunteer at Birthright and have more of an impetus to stay up-to-date on these issues. Now is the time to storm our representatives!
I was never hysterical, but I was and am concerned, Matt.
In Christ’s peace and joy,
Robin