President Barack Obama likes to say,” Yes we can” to hope. Hope is what characterized the March for Life in Washington, D.C., in which tens of thousands, many from our own community, marched for life on the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Jan. 22. These tens of thousands were marching for life to end the abortion industry, which has killed 50 million unborn human beings in the U.S. alone since 1973.

However, on the very next day, President Obama rescinded what is known as the “Mexico City Policy,” initiated by President Reagan in 1984. This policy prohibited using tax dollars for supporting abortion-promoting and abortion-providing organizations overseas. Furthermore, Obama seems to be in a full-court-press mode, planning to provide abortion funding to the U.N. population fund, and, as part of his stimulus package bill, to provide much more money to Planned Parenthood, the biggest U.S. abortion provider.

The president likes to say that the nation should decrease the number of abortions. However, abortions are not decreased by promoting them. This is not a sign of hope. Snuffing out life in the womb contradicts all hope. It does physical, psychological and spiritual harm to the mother. People need to say “yes we can” to life so that we do not deaden our very own spirits.

Let us pray for President Obama and for a respect for human life from conception to natural death. Furthermore, let us speak out for life to our elected officials.

Maurice Theriault, Lewiston