For a moment, let's put aside his other questionable, more or less Marxist policies, and focus on one critical issue for Catholics: Senator Barack Obama is deeply committed to preserving and expanding the practice of legal abortion.
-Obama is a co-sponsor of the "Freedom of Choice Act" (S.1173), which seeks to wipe out most of the remaining limitations on abortion, including making late-term or partial-birth abortion legal again and requiring taxpayer funding of abortions through Medicaid.
-Obama voted against proposed legislation in Illinois that would protect and provide medical care for babies that survived abortion attempts. Read that again: Obama would have babies who managed to survive the attempt on their lives neglected, left to die a slow death from starvation or injury.
-He voted NO on defining an unborn child as eligible for SCHIP (medical coverage).
-He voted NO on prohibiting minors from crossing state lines to procure abortions, and also voted against parental notification in this case (normally, if a non-custodial adult takes a minor across state lines without parental consent, it's kidnapping - a federal offense. But I guess he thinks it's okay if you're taking her to get an abortion).
-He voted YES on expanding embryonic stem cell research to more cell lines (translation: he voted to destroy more embryos).
(sources: www.nrlc.org and
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Barack_Obama.htm)
On NBC's Meet the Press, Nancy Pelosi talked about being Catholic and when life begins.
She said that she had long studied the issue and that the doctors of the Church had not been able to define when life begins. For those who don't know, the doctors of the Church are not scientists or medical doctors - they're theologians and philosophers, and while there was some debate among them in the past about when life begins, that debate has been wiped out by modern medical science. She also said "The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose."
Pelosi's statements ignited a firestorm of response from America's clergy, because she was completely wrong. The Catholic Church has, from its earliest days, been consistently and unwaveringly opposed to abortion. Here's a good article explaining the Catholic view:
http://www.nrlc.org/news/2008/NRL09/Catholic.html Read the Constitution (
http://www.consource.org/index.asp?sid=9&groupid=48). The so-called "right to choose" isn't there. It's a loose interpretation by judges with a liberal agenda.
Catholics have a moral obligation to protect innocent life from destruction. We cannot, in good conscience, vote for someone who would do all he can to make sure the slaughter continues.