When President Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy on January 23, he stated, ‘No matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground.”

Obama’s initial actions as President may have at times suggested he is sincerely trying to bring together traditionally divided groups. However, if President Obama is in any way serious about finding common ground on abortion, he should immediately withdraw his nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Nominating Johnsen to OLC is a serious slap in the face of pro-life Americans. Johnsen has condemned virtually every type of regulation of abortion conceived by a legislature and espoused a passionate pro-choice agenda throughout her career.

Her public records are dominated by pro-abortion rhetoric and criticisms of the pro-life movement. A few examples:

Comparing pregnancy to slavery

“Statutes that curtail her abortion choice are disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment, in that forced pregnancy requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state’s asserted interest.”

– Dawn Johnsen, in a Supreme Court amicus brief she authored in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

Protecting life makes women into no more than “fetal containers”

“The woman is constantly aware for nine months that her body is not wholly her own: the state has conscripted her body for its own ends. Thus, abortion restrictions, ‘reduce pregnant women to no more than fetal containers.’”

-Dawn Johnsen, in a Supreme Court amicus brief she authored in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

Pro-life supporters are comparable to the Ku Klux Klan

“The ‘terrorist’ behavior of petitioners is remarkably similar to the conspiracy of violence and intimidation carried out by the Ku Klux Klan...”

-Dawn Johnsen, in a Supreme Court amicus brief she authored in Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic

Abortion brings relief

“The experience is no longer traumatic; the response of most women to the experience is relief.” Continued...