God save America

Fr. Ted Colleton

In the event that Bill Clinton is removed from the U.S. presidency, he would be replaced by Vice-President Al Gore. I decided to do some research on the latter's position on "the abortion question." At first, the news looked good. According to reports, when he was a U.S. representative from Tennessee between 1977-84, he generally voted against federal funding of abortion. In 1987, he told a constituent that he wanted "to reduce the outrageously large number of abortions currently taking place." And he added, "I share your belief that innocent human life must be protected and I am commited to furthering this goal." In 1983, he is reported to have made the following statement to a voter: "It is my deep personal conviction that abortion is wrong. I hope that some day we will see the current outrageously large number of abortions drop sharply." In 1984, he voted to amend the civil rights bill to define "person" as including "unborn children from the moment of conception."

For the above statements, I would have given him a grade of "B-plus." But 10 years later, we meet a very different Vice-President Al Gore. His present position can be ascertained from the following statement, made when he addressed a luncheon gathering of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League: "American women have the right to choose. And no one will ever steal that right away. The right to choose is fundamental - lodged in our Constitution, affirmed by our Supreme Court." He went on to say, "We will never, never let anyone take that right away." He then thanked NARAL "for standing tall, even at a time when an anti-choice Congress has threatened some important freedoms." If there is a lesser mark than "minus-zero," that would be my assessment of the present Al Gore.

David O'Steen, the executive director of the U.S. National Right to Life Committee, has this to say: "I don't view him as a very principled person. There really wouldn't be any difference between Gore and Clinton." Mrs. Judie Brown of the American Life League suggests that Gore would be "even worse than Clinton because of his environmental attitude." Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League believes that Gore would be "even more dangerous than Clinton."

Al Gore is also a strong advocate of population control. At a White House briefing last year, he stressed rapid population growth as a factor in "global warming" and remarked that "the developing countries still have very, very large families." Apparently they are not supposed to "choose." According to the Population Reference Bureau's most recent estimate, the fertility rate in those countries is 3.3 children per woman. Mr. Gore and his wife have four children.

"God Save America."