She gave, as everyone who remembers that occasion will certainly recall, a strong address against abortion. In February of 1994, the speaker here was Mother Teresa. In ClintonвЂ™s reflections at the breakfast last week-a reprise of her description of the event in her autobiography Living History-she painted a softer picture of the tense moment:

In the long run, Hillary turned a public scolding into a highly visible friendship with a figure whose widely accepted moral bona fides came with an explicitly anti-abortion imprimatur from the Christian Right.Д¬learing the Way for a Rejection of Reproductive Rights And Mother Teresa had the satisfaction of watching HillaryвЂ™s support for abortion as a fundamental right give way to an acceptance of it as a вЂњtragedyвЂќ-one that should be made as вЂњrareвЂќ as possible. Although Clinton didnвЂ™t mention this in her public reminiscence last week, after C-Span stopped taping and the breakfast plates were cleared, Fellowship head Doug Coe gently brokered a peace between Hillary and Mother Teresa.Д¬oe left the Breakfast with one of the most powerful women in America in his debt for political services rendered. The Clintons remained seated, yet both-particularly the ever-politic Hillary-understood how behind-the-scenes power politics work within the Christian Right, and responded to the rebuke by finding вЂњcommon groundвЂќ with the nun. Mother TeresaвЂ™s pro-life fans swooned, with many giving the nun a standing ovation. вЂњAny country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want,вЂќ Mother Teresa said, and went on to suggest adoption be promoted as an alternative to abortion. Mother Teresa had used her platform as guest speaker to chastise the Clintons (standing right beside her, smiles stretched to the breaking point) for their nominal support of abortion rights. In her address, Clinton sentimentally recalled meeting Mother Teresa at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast. With the Family in the news this past year due to the string of sex scandals at its вЂњC StreetвЂќ house for members of Congress-and later for the role it seems to have played in shaping the draconian anti-gay law introduced in Uganda last year-the speech by Clinton, sandwiched between Family head Doug CoeвЂ™s introduction and the traditional presidential address by Barack Obama, was an interesting coda to her strange status as a longtime вЂњfriendвЂќ of the Family.ДЄlthough much of the media coverage focused on ClintonвЂ™s and then President ObamaвЂ™s condemnations of the anti-gay bill (leading religion scholar Mark Silk to suggest that ClintonвЂ™s role was damage control as the Family struggles to make the Uganda bill вЂњgo awayвЂќ) ClintonвЂ™s speech also underscored the FamilyвЂ™s influence in pushing her stance on reproductive freedom rightward. The Breakfast is the one public event organized by the secretive Washington network, the Family, a group of elite fundamentalists who minister to DCвЂ™s powerful and wealthy who are seen as the divinely вЂњelect,вЂќ chosen for leadership by God. On February 4, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the surprise keynote speaker for the 58th annual National Prayer Breakfast.

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