Pledging allegiance - to born, unborn

A Roman Catholic school has revised the Pledge of Allegiance to reflect the church's opposition to abortion. The ending of the pledge, "with liberty and justice for all," has been amended to "with liberty and justice for the born and the unborn."

The change has made some students at Lorain Catholic High School unhappy.

"It's like changing the Constitution," Angela Martinez, a junior at the school, said Thursday.

Robert Garcia, a senior, also said the change was a bad idea.

"I feel the "born and unborn' shouldn't be added. The pledge is a pledge to your country. ... The pledge deals with patriotism," he said.

The Chronicle Telegram in nearby Elyria reported Thursday the phrase was added at the request of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization.

Tom Laubenthal, a trustee with the Elyria Knights of Columbus Council, said the organization regularly uses the phrase at its meetings "just because of our stance on abortion."

Some of the 400 students who attend the school about 35 miles west of Cleveland said they were not required to recite the added phrase. But several said they felt pressure to do so.

"A lot of students, when they say the pledge, say "justice for all' and then sit down, and you just hear the rest over the P.A. system," said Marcie Apont, an eighth-grader.