Pro-life groups are calling on Villanova University to reconsider hosting and honoring Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey at its 2011 commencement ceremony.
Students for Life and the Cardinal Newman Society sent a letter to the president of Villanova University, Father Peter Donohue, Thursday urging the Catholic university to rethink honoring Casey due to the his pro-choice voting record.
“It is our hope in writing to Father Donohue, that he reconsider his decision to give Senator Bob Casey, a senator who’s voted time and time again for pro-abortion legislation and nominees, an honorary degree from the university and to host him as the speaker for the 2011 commencement ceremony this Sunday,” said Kristan Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America. “For a Catholic university to honor a Senator who has publicly opposed Church teaching is to allow his actions to seem acceptable and conventional.”
The letter laid out the groups’ primary objections to the senator, namely his support for the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” opposition to the Mexico City policy, support for Planned Parenthood and vote for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.
“As members of the pro-life and Catholic community, we ask you to reconsider your decision to host and honor Senator Casey because of his public opposition to Church teaching and because of his pro-abortion record in the U.S. Senate,” the letter read.
The groups have started an opposition petition and are collecting signatures through social media.
The school has not responded to the groups’ letter and did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment