By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
In spite of a long and troubling track record on abortion, President Barack Obama has offered the post of secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to Kansas’ Catholic Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
The 60 year old governor who is currently serving her second term as governor of Kansas has accepted the nomination. As health secretary, she will be charged with shepherding health care reform legislation through Congress.
The nomination is troubling to many in the Catholic and pro-life community because of her long affiliation with the abortion industry. The Governor has championed abortion rights from the moment of conception to natural birth and is politically associated with the notorious late term abortionist, Dr. George Tiller, who is currently on trial for allegedly violating abortion laws.
A long-time supporter of Barack Obama, Sebelius will face a daunting job if her nomination is confirmed. She will head a vast agency that handles everything from health care to cancer research to food safety. She will also be the “face” of the Obama administration’s ambitious plans to overhaul the nation’s health care system, although a White House based counterpart is expected to handle many of the new policy moves.
Sebelius is the President’s second choice, being nominated after former Senator Tom Daschle had to withdraw due to tax problems. Daschle had a much more extensive background in health care and had the vital connections to the Senate that are expected to be needed if Obama’s new programs are to make it into law.
However, her affiliation with the abortion industry gave even the staunchly pro-abortion Obama Administration cause to pause before deciding on Sebelius.
As a result, many believe the move will be politically costly for the president.
Calling her “one of the most extreme pro-abortion zealots in the nation,” Catholic League president Bill Donohue said “Catholics do not expect that abortion-rights presidents will go out of their way to choose pro-life Catholics to be in their administration. But they also don’t expect them to go out of their way to offend them. Obama has done just that. . . . (F)or Obama to choose somebody who sews such division within the Catholic community to head HHS really is an insult to Catholics. Indeed, she has been publicly criticized by the last three archbishops of Kansas for her radical views on abortion.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List, agrees. “The nomination of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services is further evidence of something gone terribly wrong for those seeking consensus on the abortion issue, especially the President,” she said in a statement.
“There appears to be complete cognitive dissonance in the mind of President Obama on the abortion issue. He seems incapable of comprehending his own words when it comes to abortion and ‘common ground.’ One of his first executive orders opened the floodgates of taxpayer funding for overseas abortion providers. Just last week, he announced plans to roll back regulations enacted to protect health care providers’ right of conscience. The Sebelius nomination is just the latest in a growing line of pro- abortion policy decisions that are not supported by the majority of Americans.”
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