AT SADDLEBACK CHURCH last Saturday, Barack Obama’s latest attempt to woo pro-lifers fell flat. When pastor Rick Warren asked, “At what point does a baby get human rights?” Obama replied: “Answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.” Lost amid the blowback sparked by this flippant remark, however, was the olive branch Obama offered pro-lifers. “The goal right now should be–and this is where I think we can find common ground, and by the way, I’ve now inserted this into the Democratic party platform–is how do we reduce the number of abortions,” he told Pastor Rick.

Obama was referring to proposed language in the Democratic party platform that declares the party “strongly supports a woman’s decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.” Obama’s handful of pro-life supporters have long argued that a President Obama could reduce the abortion rate more than a President McCain. Pepperdine law professor Douglas W. Kmiec, a former Reagan and Bush I Justice Dept. official, wrote in a May 3 CatholicOnline article that Obama could do more to “reduce abortion practice in America” through “new efforts and untried paths rather than legal bickering over potential Supreme Court nominations.”