President George W. Bush Awarded by Canadian Pro-Life Group for Abortion Fight

LIFENEWS

A Canadian pro-life group gave former President George W. Bush an award yesterday honoring his pro-life record and recognizing his fight against abortion. The Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association presented the president with the award while he was in town to give an address.

The group said in a statement that it "had the distinct privilege to present a humble word of thanks to President George W. Bush for his very public determination to protect the unborn while he served two terms as President of the United States."

Bush received the Humanity of the Unborn Child Pro-Life Award and a plaque that states it is "presented with sincere gratitude to President George W. Bush on the occasion of your visit to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on October 21, 2009."

The award is presented "in recognition of your resolve and initiatives in the protection of human life" and features a quote from Pope Benedict XVI saying, “Openness to life is at the center of true development."

The group posted a laundry list of pro-life accomplishments on its blog and highlighted them in the statement honoring Bush.

The list included signing the Mexico City Policy to stop the use of taxpayer dollars in foreign nations from promoting and performing abortions.

It also noted Bush promoted adoption and parental notification laws, encouraging teen abstinence, signed into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, and signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial birth abortion.

It also thanked Bush for signing the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 and naming pro-life advocates to the Supreme Court.

The Canadian pro-life group also challenged those who say that Bush wasn't entirely pro-life because he sent troops to help Iraq.

"One topic that arises in this conversation of the pro-life record of President Bush is the topic of civilian deaths during wartime, especially during the Iraq War. People are rightly bothered by civilian deaths during wartime, because the victims are clearly innocent human beings," the group wrote.

'We need to be just as bothered by death by abortion, because the victims of abortion likewise are innocent human beings. This isn't a numbers game, but here’s a challenge: let’s bring the number of abortions down to the number of civilian deaths in the Iraq War, then we'll be in a position to compare the two moral dilemmas," it added.

"Until then, using the argument that President George W. Bush was not a pro-life president because of the civilian deaths he caused in Iraq makes political pawns of those victims, using their destruction to deflect people’s attention away from the very real and pressing need to eliminate abortions in this province and country," the pro-life group continued.

The group acknowledged that the award is going to "an international politician" but restated its goal to eliminate abortions in Canada.

Bush has been speaking at sold out venues across Canada. Naturally, most of the coverage has been on the 'protesters' outside (unlike when the prolife groups protest 'invisibly'). Too bad. Apparently, the ticket-holders were not disappointed.