Baptized Catholic takes helm of national pro-abortion organization

Washington D.C., Dec 1, 2004 / 22:00 pm

A pro-life group has called it “a scandal” that a woman who claims to have been raised a Catholic has taken the helm of the country’s largest pro-abortion organization.

The American Life League is dismayed by the recent appointment of Nancy Keenan as president of NARAL.

"For a woman who was taught to respect all innocent human beings, it is a scandal that Ms. Keenan has agreed to lead such an anti-life, anti-Catholic organization,” said the American Life League in a statement.

“The Catholic Church does not waver in its teaching that the act of abortion is gravely evil in every circumstance, and Ms. Keenan has made it perfectly clear that she believes the Church is wrong,” continued the statement.

The American Life League pointed out that NARAL's news release, announcing Keenan's appointment, praised Keenan’s unwavering pro-abortion position during a public effort to excommunicate her from the Catholic Church a few years ago.

The league said it would ask Keenan’s bishop, Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., “to clarify her current status with the Catholic Church,” given that “Catholic teaching sends a clear message: you cannot be both Catholic and pro-abortion."

“We want to be assured that Ms. Keenan is not using her 'Catholic identity' to further denigrate Christ and His Church,” it said.