TED KENNEDY ON ABORTION: AUG 3, 1971

I am always amazed that any Catholic can choose to be pro-abortion. I am saddened when those same Catholics at one time were pro-life. In many ways, it seems to me, that those of us of Irish descent should realize the importance of LIFE, especially that of our tiniest, most defenseless, our babies still inside their mothers' wombs! For it was not really all that long ago that we were fighting for survival, driven out of our homeland by famine and oppression.... I am even more saddened when I remember that many priests are responsible for this change in our Church... and that so few even blink about this... From Patrick Madrid: This article reveals that it was was an intentional, systematic, concerted effort on the part of a group of dissenting Catholic theologians (including Fr. Richard McCormick, Fr. Charles Curran, Fr. Joseph Fuchs, Fr. Robert Drinan, and Fr. John Courtney Murray), who spent a good deal of of time with the Kennedys in the mid 1960s employing bogus moral theology arguments to convince them they could "accept and promote abortion with a clear conscience." Once this was accomplished, these same Judas priests undertook to literally coach the Kennedy's on what to say and how to vote in favor of abortion in their public lives. Given the Kennedys' enormous influence over American politics, it's diabolically logical for those dissenting Catholic theologians to have targeted this renowned and respected Catholic family for "conversion." They were in the perfect position to persuade other Catholics, and even many Protestants, that it's okay to be pro-abortion. And this strategy worked so well that, today, it is virtually impossible to find a Catholic politician holding national public office who is pro-life. Thanks to these dissenters and those Catholics they duped, "Catholic" is synonymous with "pro-abortion" in politics. Patrick Madrid points us to this article: How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma By ANNE HENDERSHOTT TED KENNEDY ON ABORTION:34 YEARS AGO TODAY

August 3, 2005 Long-time Catholic League member Tom Dennelly wrote to Senator Edward Kennedy in 1971 expressing his views on abortion (this was a year-and-a-half before Roe v. Wade). In a letter dated August 3, 1971, Senator Kennedy replied; excerpts appear below. : "While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized—the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old. "On the question of the individual's freedom of choice there are easily available birth control methods and information which women may employ to prevent or postpone pregnancy. But once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire. "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception." Catholic League president William Donohue opined as follows: "The same Ted Kennedy who once championed the rights of the unborn now champions the right of a doctor to jam a scissor into the skull of an infant who is 80-percent born. Sadly for him, history will look back at this era and recognize that he didn't care enough about human beings to take responsibility for children from the very moment of conception."

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Two OTHER blogs that pointed me in this direction:

Vive Christus Rex!

Causa Nostrae Laetitiae