by Leslie Bond

Former California Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., known to pro-lifers for his pro-abortion policies during his past political career, has now stated that he sees “the killing of the unborn as crazy.”

Brown indicated his change of heart in a telephone interview with the National Catholic News Service, February 10. The former governor, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 and 1980, had just returned from a four week visit to India where he spent much of his time volunteering in pro-life champion Mother Teresa’s Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta.

Brown said his work with the dying “gave me a different perspective on the whole question of abortion.” He said he could not support abortion after spending time “confronting and protecting the lives of the suffering with not as high a quality of life as a three-month fetus that is healthy and has potential,” NC News Service reported.

The fact that “this country and Europe see the need to kill so many unborn does not seem to be justifie,” Brown said. He added, “It’s just that we’ve organized society to be anti-life.”

Brown said he was impressed by the great respect Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity show for the dead and dying. The sisters “showed more respect for someone just off the streets than some people with substantial means get in developed countries,” he said, adding, “It would be great to take the attitude that created that environment and spread it around the world.”

Brown, who served as governor of California from 1975 to 1982, halted his political career in 1982 when he lost a bid for the U.S. Senate to Sen. Pete Wilson. He plans to re-enter the political arena, although not immediately, he said.