SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) _ President Barack Obama is expressing some willingness to offer conscience exemptions to health care providers who believe abortion is wrong.
In a commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, Obama said, “Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause.” He offered no details on how broad that might be.
The president said he and other people of faith can never know for sure what God wants, and that element of doubt should make them “wary of too much self-righteousness.”
The Catholic university’s president, the Reverend John Jenkins, emphasized in his introduction that Notre Dame opposes Obama’s “policies on abortion and embryonic stem cell research.”
Dozens of U.S. bishops said that should have prevented Notre Dame from inviting Obama to speak and presenting him with an honorary degree.