According to KFAN radio, retired Ravens center Matt Birk said he decided to forgo the visit because he has issues with the president's stance on abortion, and a few recent comments that he felt were in poor taste.
"I would say that I have great respect for the office of the Presidency," Birk told KFAN, "but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, 'God bless Planned Parenthood.'"
He continued: "I'm very confused by [the President's] statement. For God to bless a place where they're ending 330,000 lives a year?"
The President made the statement at the end of an address to Planned Parenthood on April 26 in which he praised the organization for their service to women. In making the speech, he became the first sitting president to ever address the group.
Birk, a Catholic, said he couldn't deal with it. "I am Catholic, I am active in the pro-life movement and I just felt like I couldn't deal with that. I couldn't endorse that in any way."
And so he passed on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the President at the White House.
"While Birk may look back on Wednesday's visit and think about what could have been, for him, it will remain proud moment where he stood firm, standing up for something that he believes in," KFAN reports.
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