Some organizations that support legal abortion as well as some pro-life groups, including the Catholic Health Association and Democrats for Life , have said the Freedom of Choice Act, known by its initials, FOCA, was unlikely to move in Congress.

FOCA has not been introduced in the current Congress. Versions of it had been introduced in nearly every session of Congress for the last 20 years. Only once, in 1993, did the bill make it as far as being considered by committees. It has never reached the floor of either the House or Senate.

Obama said at the press conference that he wants "to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies that result in women feeling compelled to get an abortion or at least (are) considering getting an abortion, particularly if we can reduce the number of teen pregnancies, which has started to spike up again."

He said a task force operating under the Domestic Policy Council "is working with groups both in the pro-choice camp and in the pro-life camp to see if we can arrive at some consensus on that."

It was not clear whether a separate task force has already been created, or whether he was referring to one of the assignments he's given to the new President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships. Among its areas of focus, the council has been asked to work on supporting pregnant women and children to reduce the demand for abortion.

An analysis of the most recent version of the perennial legislation by the legal counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warned that it would wipe out existing state restrictions on abortion and impede states' ability to regulate abortion.

A nationwide postcard campaign against FOCA and other abortion-related issues was sponsored earlier this year by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Many pro-life organizations focused their concerns about FOCA on a reply Obama gave to a question during a July 2007 campaign stop to a Planned Parenthood group, when he said signing the bill would be "the first thing I'd do as president."

In response to the question at the April 29 press conference about that comment, Obama also elaborated on his views on abortion.

"I think abortion is a moral issue and an ethical issue," he said. "I think that those who are pro-choice make a mistake when they — if they suggest — and I don't want to create straw men here, but I think there are some who suggest that this is simply an issue about women's freedom and that there's no other considerations. I think, look, this is an issue that people have to wrestle with, and families and individual women have to wrestle with.

"The reason I'm pro-choice is because I don't think women take that position casually," Obama said. "I think that they struggle with these decisions each and every day, and I think they are in a better position to make these decisions ultimately than members of Congress or a president of the United States — in consultation with their families, with their doctors, with their clergy."