How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma
- Login to post comments
Anne Hendershott wrote an intriguing article in the WSJ called "How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma."
She points out that as recently as 1971, Ted Kennedy wrote to a constituent saying, "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."
She goes on to say that in 1964, the Kennedys were coached by Catholic college professors about how they could become pro-abortion without burderniing their consciences.
She explains that in his book "The Birth of Bioethics," ex-Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, who was at that meeting with other supposed theologians, and they believed that Catholic politicians could
...tolerate legislation that would permit abortion under certain circumstances if political efforts to repress this moral error led to greater perils to social peace and order.
The theologians worked for a day and a half among ourselves at a nearby hotel. In the evening we answered questions from the Kennedys and the Shrivers. Though the theologians disagreed on many a point, they all concurred on certain basics . . . and that was that a Catholic politician could in good conscience vote in favor of abortion.