Part of article: Kathleeen Sebelius and Three Catholic Archbishops
Archbishop Ignatius Strecker
The late Archbishop Ignatius Strecker of Kansas City, KS Strecker served the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas from 1969 to 1993, so he saw Kathleen Sebelius’ actions when she was a young legislator in the Kansas House.
Let’s review Kathleen Sebelius’ action from long ago that might have drawn the attention of Archbishop Strecker.
Before looking at a legal case from Wichita from the late 1980’s, let’s recall two horrific crimes that are known nationally and internationally about murdered moms and their unborn children:
- Baby cut from womb found alive, Lawrence Journal-World, Dec 18, 2004.
- Scott Peterson Gets Death Penalty in Double Murder of Laci, Conner, LifeNews, Dec 13, 2004.
A murder of a mom and unborn child similar to the one committed by Scott Peterson occurred in Kansas in the 1980s. In 1989 the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that killing an unborn child was not a crime, but the legislature had the authority to clarify state laws to make it a crime. However, to protect abortion in Kansas, then State Rep. Kathleen Sebelius made sure the state law was not changed to give any protection to an unborn child. This Wichita Eagle article describes one of the earliest known stands taken by Sebelius:
Wichita Eagle, Oct 28, 1989 (courtesy of Kansans for Life)
Killing fetus not crime, court rules, Wichita Eagle, Oct 28, 1989 (courtesy of Kansans for Life).
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that a fetus is not a human being under the state’s homicide laws, prompting a Kansas anti-abortion group to vow to try to change the law during the coming legislative session.
Two legislators who also are lawyers said that changing the law to give a fetus protection under criminal statutes could have broad implications for abortion. Such protection would mean establishing a point at which a fetus is considered a human being, they said.
“I have real serious problems with that,” said Rep. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Topeka and member of the House Judiciary Committee. “I think for me and a lot of other people there are certain inalienable rights established for a person, but those are not applied in utero.” …
“Imposing criminal liability for the killing of a fetus is a legislative function,” said the court’s opinion, written by Justice Harold Herd. “We are prohibited from construing ‘viable fetus’ to be within the term human being since such action exceeds our judicial power and denies the defendant due process.”
Sebelius blocked parental notification for girls under 16 receiving an abortion. State Rep. Sebelius voted several times in 1990 to block parental notification for girls under 16 seeking an abortion.
Response of Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Strecker in 1992 to Sebelius’ actions: Archbishop Strecker in The Silent and Suffering Church in Kansas, The Leaven, March 27, 1992 (courtesy of Kansans for Life) reflected on what Sebelius was doing in Kansas:
“Rep. Kathleen Sebelius of Topeka led the death-march of the unborn to the abortion clinics in the House of Representatives. She was attempting to make the ‘death-marches’ to the abortion clinics as legal as the death-marches to the gas chambers of the World War II Holocaust.” …
What assurance have we, their electors, that these same persons will not use this same legislative forum to vote away other human, social and legal rights that are a part of our ‘inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’. How soon will these legislators vote a mandatory death sentence for the sick, the aging, the poor in society? How could we Kansans have elected such ‘negative to life’ persons to such responsible positions in our state government?”
The Leaven, March 27, 1992 (courtesy of Kansans for Life)
[Click above on article to see enlarged version]
Other interactions between State Rep Sebelius and Archbishop Strecker are not known.
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Tags: Archbishop Ignatius Strecker, Culture of Life, Kathleen Sebelius
