United States to promote the concepts behind the Pope's encyclical. Pope John Paul II recognized and blessed the foundation in 1997. United States politics Evangelium vitae has been described as the Catholic academic Christopher Kaczor as the "magna carta for the pro-life movement." Evangelicals and others have also adopted the phrase. Abortion On October 3, during the 2000 U.S. presidential election campaign, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, a Methodist, cited the term during a televised debate against then Vice President Al Gore. Bush expressed concerns that Mifepristone, then newly approved as an abortifacient pill, would encourage more women to terminate their pregnancies; whereas his goal was to make such terminations rarer: Leonard Mary of The Boston Globe said that Bush had directly borrowed his language from John Paul II, viewing this as a deliberate strategic attempt to gain political support from "moderate" Catholics voters (while not coming out so strongly against abortion rights that it would alienate pro-choice voters). Some voters believed that only the Republican Party would build a culture of life in the United States, and this helped Bush win. Some Catholics, criticized Bush for apparent inconsistency between his support of a culture of life and his strong support for the death penalty, which Catholic doctrine permits where there is no other means for society to protect itself. As Governor of Texas, Bush repeatedly authorized executions of convicted murderers. Kristen Day, the executive director of Democrats for Life of America, says that "achieving a culture of life cannot be done by simply voting Republican." Day says that "to be truly pro-life, we must support a broad spectrum of issues including worker's compensation, minimum wage, and education assistance for displaced workers", as well as addressing poverty, including a livable wage and health care. Day says that Republicans should broaden their definition of a culture of life beyond simple opposition to abortion, and that to achieve a true culture of life that members of both parties will be needed. The 2004 Republican National Convention adopted a platform with a plank titled "Promoting a Culture of Life." The platform's anti-abortion stance included positions on abortion; access to healthcare despite disability, age, or infirmity; euthanasia; assisted suicide; and promoted research and resources to alleviate the pain of the terminally ill. Other issues The phrase "culture of life" was also invoked during the Terri Schiavo case of March 2005 when the phrase was