Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008 was asked in an interview by Pastor Rick Warren whether he acknowledged the fact that human life begins at conception. Obama deliberated, then stammered that it was “above my pay grade.” And yet in his eight years as president, when the buck stopped with him and nothing was above his pay grade, he never came forward to announce that he had referenced a textbook in biology to cure his ignorance and acknowledge that life does, in fact, begin at conception. Perhaps it was because no journalist or news correspondent ever asked it of him.
Republican presidents seem to have little better grasp of the fact. Obama’s immediate predecessor, George W. Bush, was questioned about federal funding of medical research using tissue from aborted fetuses. In his answer, he said it was his “belief that life begins at conception.” It is disconcerting that a President of the United States perceives his own position as a “belief” without realizing that it is immutable scientific fact. If asked about funding NASA research, would he have said that he “believes” that the Earth is round?
AAGLE does not take any position of advocacy, pro or con, on the legality of abortion.