Diocese targets Granholm on abortion
Detroit News
January 9, 2004
By Kim Kozlowski Maida leads drive to overturn veto of partial birth banDetroit Cardinal Adam Maida will challenge the state’s most prominent Catholic politician, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, in a new attempt to ban partial-birth abortion. Maida will ask Metro Detroit’s 1.5 million Catholics at Masses this month to sign petitions that, if successful, would bypass Granholm’s October veto of the Legal Birth Definition Act. Joining Michigan’s other six diocesan bishops and Right to Life of Michigan, Maida announced in a church publication Thursday that the coalition will attempt a seldom-used procedure known as a citizens initiative to bypass the governor. If the proposal again gets legislative support, it will not require Granholm’s signature. “Please ... help preserve the greatest treasure God has given us, the gift of life itself,” Maida said in a letter to be read during Masses in Metro Detroit and 500 churches throughout the state. Granholm vetoed the bill in October because it did not include a provision protecting the health of the mother. As a pro-choice Catholic who personally opposes abortion, she has faced heated opposition for her stance. The issue is not a personal attack on Granholm, said Ned McGrath, Maida’s spokesman. And the governor does not interpret it that way. “I am sure the governor clearly understands his position,” said Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Granholm. “She would hope that he would understand hers as well.”
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