TIMESONLINE: President Obama made a controversial appearance at America’s foremost Catholic university yesterday, where angry protesters were arrested as they demonstrated against his support of abortion rights.
Mr Obama’s appearance at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana highlighted once again America’s deep divisions over abortion and stem-cell research. It also came at a time when Mr Obama is about to choose a new justice for the US Supreme Court — the forum that decides the constitutionality of such emotive religious and cultural issues.
Before he delivered the address for graduating students at least 25 people were arrested for trespass, while an aircraft flew overhead pulling an anti-abortion banner. Graphic images of aborted foetuses were paraded on roads near the campus in South Bend. Demonstrators were not only objecting to his appearance but also to the authorities awarding him an honorary degree*. >>> Time Reid | Monday, May 18, 2009
*Only a matter of days ago, the University of Arizona refused to give Obama an honorary doctorate, saying that he had not yet achieved enough.
THE GUARDIAN: Opposing Views on Abortion 'Irreconcilable', Says Barack Obama
Hundreds protest outside university during speech / Most Americans oppose terminations, poll shows
The impassioned views of America's opposing camps on abortion are "irreconcilable", Barack Obama conceded today in a contentious graduation speech at a leading Catholic university that was disrupted by hecklers, protests and arrests.
The president was drawn reluctantly into a confrontation with anti-abortion activists who opposed his end-of-term visit to Indiana's Notre Dame university, but he gave little ground in his support for women's rights to choose. He urged campaigners on both sides of the debate to avoid "demonising" each other.
"No matter how much we may want to fudge it – indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory – the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable," said Obama as he accepted an honorary law degree.
His address to 12,000 students, relatives and teachers at the university's sports arena was interrupted several times by hecklers, one of whom yelled "stop killing our children". Pausing while much of the audience booed the protester, Obama responded: "We're not going to shy away from things that are uncomfortable." >>> Andrew Clark in New York | Sunday, May 17, 2009
