By Dave Andrusko
Pro-abortion President Barack Obama
We are still eleven months out from the next presidential election, but pro-lifers in general, Catholics in particular have long since taken the measure of pro-abortion President Barack Obama. What’s fascinating is that there has been a mini- torrent of articles from sources that almost all are supportive of Obama who criticize him for passivity, for not mixing it up with Congress to get his way, and in general for not giving them everything they want.
We, by contrast, look at the bottom line. Obama’s dubious accomplishments include ObamaCare, in many ways the biggest Care package the abortion industry has received in the nearly 39 years since Roe v. Wade was handed down.
And with respect to his re-election bid, as Obama approaches the clubhouse turn, he is giving the Abortion Establishment what it wants. And that generosity to one of his core constituencies includes what Rep. Chris Smith Thursday called “an unconscionable abuse of power.”
We’ve written twice about the politically-driven decision made by President Obama’s Department and Health Services (HHS) to reject a $2.5 million anti-human-trafficking grant for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops because the USCCB refused to refer for abortions. Grants went instead to two applicants who HHS professionals ranked much lower than the USCCB. (Rep. Smith called it “bid rigging.”)
Yesterday Rep. Smith, the author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs. (See “HHS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: EXAMINING THE POLITICIZATION OF GRANTS” at www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/12/hhs-and-the-catholic-church-examining-the-politicization-of-grants/).
Rep. Smith minced no words:” The Obama Administration’s bias against Catholics is an affront to religious freedom and a threat to all people of faith.” He backed that up by citing the fact that Health and Human Service reviewers gave the USCCB a score of 89 as compared to 74 for and 69 for two other groups which nonetheless got the contracts.
Smith also said, “Although HHS has thus far failed to provide the committee with all relevant documents pursuant to Chairman Issa’s request, we do know that USCRI’s proposal lacked detail on key program areas, had no plan on how objectives will be met and even lacked resumes for key staff, including the program director.”
Smith said that “The Obama Administration’s discriminatory practice of funding NGOs that provide or refer for abortions even when they fail to win a competitive process” is not only “unjust, unethical and in violation of conscience laws (Weldon Amendment and Coats-Snowe),” but it also “severely undermines public—and Congressional—confidence and support for what is an otherwise laudable program.”
The bottom line, Smith said, is this: “[P]ernicious pro-abortion favoritism, embedded in this egregiously flawed process, does a grave disservice to the victims of trafficking. Victims deserve better.”
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