US PRESIDENT Barack Obama strode head-on into the abortion debate last night as he told graduates at America's leading Roman Catholic university that both sides must stop demonising each other.
Mr Obama acknowledged that "no matter how much we want to fudge it … the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable".
But he issued a plea to the University of Notre Dame's graduating class, and to everyone across
the United States, to stop "reducing those with differing views to caricature".
He added: "Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It's a way of life that always has been the Notre Dame tradition."
Mr Obama, who supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare, was invited to speak at the university and receive an honorary degree. "I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away," he said.
The Rev John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president praised Mr Obama for not being "someone who stops talking to those who disagree with him". He said too little attention had been paid to Mr Obama's decision to speak at an institution that opposed his abortion policy.
Ahead of Mr Obama's speech, 27 protesters were arrested on trespassing charges, police said. They included Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as "Roe" in the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion. She now opposes abortion, and joined over 300 demonstrators at the university.
More than half of them held signs, some declaring "Shame on Notre Dame" and "Stop Abortion Now" to express their anger over the invitation to Mr Obama, saying the university had lost touch with its Catholic roots.
On campus, Mr Obama entered the arena to thunderous applause and a standing ovation from many in the crowd of 12,000. But as the president began his opening address, at least three protesters interrupted it. One yelled: "Stop killing our children."
The graduates responded by chanting "Yes we can", the slogan that became synonymous with Mr Obama's presidential campaign. Mr Obama seemed unfazed, saying Americans must be able to deal with things that make them "uncomfortable".
The president said those on each side of the debate "can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.
"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."
He said he favoured "a sensible conscience clause" that would give anti-abortion healthcare providers the right to refuse to perform the procedure.
Before taking on the abortion issue, Mr Obama told graduates they were part of a "generation that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind, even before this crisis hit an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, diligence, and an honest day's work".
