Hentoff - 1 I Won - 0

President Obama's Notre Dame speech on abortion was applauded by the mainstream media, quoting his call for more "open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words." But except for the pro-life, and some conservative forums, there was no mention of Obama's omission of his own documented, chilling record on abortion that proves what he also said on that Sunday:

"No matter how much we want to fudge it ... the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable." I watched the full-scale coverage of the speech on Fox News; and the reporting, before and after, did not inform the viewers - as one glaring example - that when Obama was an Illinois state senator, he voted three times against a Born-Alive Infants Protection Act that required medical care for an infant, born alive human being, during a botched abortion.

When, during his Notre Dame speech, a protester - before being removed - called Obama a "baby killer," he was making a literal point.

Obama has also clearly pledged a "litmus test" for his choices for the Supreme Court. In a July 17, 2007, speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, he stated: "With one more vacancy on the Supreme Court, we could be looking at a majority hostile to a woman's fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe v. Wade. The next president may be asked to nominate that Supreme Court justice."

Is this what he means by the need for "open minds" in the debate on abortion?

At Notre Dame, Obama glided away from the truth when he said: "Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women."

Compare those seemingly "fair-minded words" with this Feb. 27, 2009, headline in the Washington Post: "Obama Administration to Rescind Bush's 'Conscience' Regulation." The accompanying story began:

"The Obama administration has begun the process of rescinding sweeping new federal protections that were granted in December to healthcare workers who refuse to provide care that violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs." How do you define "conscience," Mr. President?

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