Nearly 40 people were arrested as they tried to enter the University of Notre Dame to protest at President Barack Obama’s appearance at commencement.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama strode head-on yesterday into the stormy abortion debate and told graduates at America’s leading Roman Catholic university that both sides must stop demonising one another.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama joined commencement ceremonies yesterday at North America’s leading Catholic university – amid protests over his support of abortion rights and stem cell research.

DAVID STOREY relates how Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe), now an opponent of abortion on religious grounds, was asked what she would say to those who believed that religion should have nothing to do with the issue (Irish Examiner, February 16).

EARLIER this month, in a Texas courtroom, a motion was filed to re-open Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that made abortion legal in the United States.