Pelosi: Catholics, Obama, Contraception Mandate

Once again, Nancy Pelosi is confused about the stance of the Catholic Church on abortion and contraception.

Her latest embarrassment involves the Obama administration's mandate that strips the Church of its rights under the Constitution.

Video.



Pelosi contorts the truth when she says she's going to "stick with my fellow Catholics in supporting the adminstration on this."

With all due respect, Pelosi is nuts.

If she's not nuts, she's intentionally lying, seeking to deceive.

Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, U.S. bishops, and priests across the country have strongly spoken out against Obama's contraception mandate.

Here's video, from CNSNews:



Transcript

CARDINAL-DESIGNATE TIMOTHY DOLAN: Religious liberty is certainly front and center in conversation these days, and that's very good.

Some days ago, so many Americans of all creeds, or none at all, cheered a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, remember? The Court ruled that churches have the fundamental freedom to choose their own ministers without government interference. Nothing could be truer. All nine justices of the Supreme Court rejected the administration's incredibly narrow and unprecedented interpretation of religious liberty in that celebrated case. The court's decision was a home run for the 1st Amendment and for our democracy. But I'm afraid the administration is on the wrong side of the Constitution again.

Now it's ordered almost every employer and insurer in the country to provide sterilizations and contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, in their health plans. And it's requiring almost all Americans, even those with ethical and religious objections, to pay for this coverage.

The administration offered a very narrow religious exemption to some employers such as churches; but the government will still require most Americans to pay for this coverage even if it violates their consciences.

That's a foul ball by any standard. Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights.

How about letting our elected leaders know that we want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and the administration's mandate rescinded? We can't afford to strike out on this one.

Clearly, Pelosi is flat-out wrong when she says Catholics support Obama's demand.
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Remember this, from 2008?

On Meet the Press, Pelosi blathered on about the Catholic Church's position on when life begins.

TOM BROKAW: Senator Obama saying the question of when life begins is above his pay grade, whether you're looking at it scientifically or theologically. If he were to come to you and say, "Help me out here, Madame Speaker. When does life begin?" what would you tell him?

NANCY PELOSI: I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator--St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child--first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There's very clear distinctions. This isn't about abortion on demand, it's about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and--to--that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god. And so I don't think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this, and there are those who've decided...

BROKAW: The Catholic Church at the moment feels very strongly that it...

PELOSI: I understand that.

BROKAW: ...begins at the point of conception.

PELOSI: I understand. And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy. But it is, it is also true that God has given us, each of us, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And we want abortions to be safe, rare, and reduce the number of abortions. That's why we have this fight in Congress over contraception. My Republican colleagues do not support contraception. If you want to reduce the number of abortions, and we all do, we must--it would behoove you to support family planning and, and contraception, you would think. But that is not the case. So we have to take--you know, we have to handle this as respectfully--this is sacred ground. We have to handle it very respectfully and not politicize it, as it has been--and I'm not saying Rick Warren did, because I don't think he did, but others will try to.

What a disgrace!