Washington D.C., May 20, 2009 / 11:54 am
Two congressmen on Tuesday responded to President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, calling on him to honor pro-life consciences by rejecting the possible cancellation of federal conscience protection rules for pro-life medical workers.
Speaking at a Washington, D.C. press conference and also sending a letter to the President, Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) noted President Obama’s Notre Dame commencement speech remark that he wanted to “honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion.”
Expressing their agreement on the need for a conscience clause, the representatives’ letter asked that President Obama end the White House Office of Management and Budget’s review of the Department of Health and Human Services’ conscience protection rules enacted by the Bush administration. They also asked him to “completely forgo” their rescindment.
“In addition, we urge you to commit to defending conscience protections in future rulemaking that affects both individual and institutional health care providers,” they wrote to the president.
“We should reduce the number of abortions by continuing the restrictions on abortion funding… We urge you to use all the tools at your disposable to keep conscience protections in place and reduce the number of abortions in the United States,” Reps. Sensenbrenner and Smith continued.