CBS News has found a Greenville, S.C., Roman Catholic priest who has warned any and all of his Obama-voting parishioners to repent of voting for the Illinois Democrat before taking Communion, owing to the president-elect's "stance on abortion."
Yet in reporting the November 14 story on its Web site, CBS News failed to ever mention by name the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), the signing of which Obama famously declared would be a top priority in his presidency.
Catholic clerics worry FOCA could overturn freedom of conscience laws in many states that allow Catholic hospitals to operate without being legally required to perform abortions, a fact left unmentioned in the story.
CBSNews.com closed its 15-paragraph article on the Rev. Jay Scott Newman's pastoral letter by placing it in the larger context of the concerns the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has about the incoming Obama administration.:
In their annual meeting earlier this week, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops vowed to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights, vowing to fight what they called "aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders."
"The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world," the bishops wrote. "If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve."
