Policy reversal?

Somewhere in the middle of President Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame Sunday, he made a startling suggestion that seemed to signal a change of heart (or at least plans) on conscience protection for doctors. Mainstream media seems not to have noticed.

Some of us caught that as he said it. I sure did, and thought of dashing off a quick blog post on that statement alone. Catholic Culture did.

In perhaps the most remarkable line in his commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, President Barack Obama called for conscience protection for pro-life health-care providers, even as his administration proposes to overturn existing conscience-protection regulations. “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 not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women,” the president said.

“Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion…” and make haste to follow up on that conscience clause.