May 18, 2009
On Sunday, President Obama performed the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame and received an honorary degree.
While addressing the politically divided audience at the Catholic university, Obama’s thoughts on abortion overshadowed all other topics.
He said that no matter how much Americans "may want to fudge it...at some level the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction, but surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."
Obama said that while "maybe we won't agree on abortion...we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make."
He urged supporters and opponents of abortion rights to "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."
According to the St. Joseph County sheriff’s office there were 39 arrests due to the abortion rights protests before the speech. Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff known as “Roe” in the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court abortion rights case, was one of the arrested people.
At the graduation, Obama made some funny comments, including the following: "I don't know if you're aware of this, but these honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by. So far, I'm only 1 for 2 as president [Arizona State University denied him one when he spoke there Wednesday]."
Obama is the ninth sitting U.S. president to speak at Notre Dame’s graduation ceremony.
Obama won the Catholic vote in 2008’s presidential election by nine percentage points, 54 to 45 percent.
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