In a column published yesterday by U.S. News and World Report, Jim Daley, the president and CEO of
Focus on the Family, criticized Obama’s approach to abortion since he took
office nearly 200 days ago.

Daley began by laying into
former President Clinton’s catch-phrase of making abortion “safe, legal, and
rare.” Those who “vehemently oppose” abortion as he does, he says, were never
satisfied with his actions, and don’t have high hopes about the Obama
administration.

“President Obama has attempted to echo
[President Clinton’s] sentiment, but his walk, unfortunately, has not matched
his talk. Consider the comments he made during his commencement address at the University
of Notre Dame in May:

‘So let’s work together to reduce the number
of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making
adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry
their child to term.'”

It’s right about here that Daley loses me,
though. Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on that first clause, the “reducing
unintended pregnancies” one? Hasn’t all this talk of the healthcare system,
diabetes and obesity convinced the American public that preventative healthcare is the key?

Apparently Daley missed the boat on this one.
He goes on to say how the key to reducing abortions is extensive
adoption programs and unconstitutional laws that require women to see a sonogram before they authorize the
procedure.

Not surprisingly, Focus
on the Family doesn’t support the one thing that would help reduce the number
of abortions in this country – comprehensive sex education. No, instead they
clearly state on their website that they support “abstinence-until-marriage
education in the public schools because it is God’s expected standard as
communicated in Scripture.”

Don’t tell women how they might get pregnant,
and then punish her when she learns the hard way? It would be too
much to ask, I suppose, for the leader of a global Christian ministry to show a little empathy.