June 15, 2007 Philadelphia, PA. June 15, 2007. The National Catholic Bioethics Center applauds the Philadelphia City Council for its vote of June 14, 2007, reversing its designation of Philadelphia as a "Pro-Choice City." (See Celebrating Human Tragedy in the City of Brotherly Love, June 13, 2007.) With a vote of 13 to 4, five Council members, several of whom expressing regret for their initial position, voted to repeal the June 7th resolution. The "Pro-Choice" resolution was crafted with the assistance of Planned Parenthood. Reversing such a conflict of interest vote was essential to representative government. The National Catholic Bioethics Center is grateful that Philadelphia has shown itself to be a community of representative government, wherein the voice of its citizens has been heard. Our hope is that this trend will continue so that the growing opposition of the people concerning elective abortions will influence public policy. In the meantime, we wish to express our gratitude to the Council members voting to repeal this resolution. (See: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20070615_Council_repeals_pro-choice_city_resolution.html) We also are grateful for the leadership of Philadelphia's Cardinal Justin Rigali, in recognizing this affront, not only to human life and human dignity, but also to the democratic process. |
