Opposition to abortion was mentioned from the podium at the Democratic Convention Tuesday night — if only fleetingly. It came when Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey delivered his speech.

If you blinked you might have missed it. Here’s the highlight:

The economy was the topic of Sen. Bob Casey’s, D-Pa., Tuesday night address to the Democratic National Convention.

But the two sentences he uttered on abortion are likely to get the most attention.

“Barack Obama and I have an honest disagreement on the issue of abortion,” said Casey. “But the fact that I’m speaking here tonight is testament to Barack’s ability to show respect for the views of people who may disagree with him.”

Casey is the son of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey.

The elder Casey, a Democrat who also held strong anti-abortion views, was denied a speaking role at the party’s 1992 convention — a perceived snub that has long been a flashpoint in the party’s wrangling over how to handle the abortion rights debate on the national stage.

Casey invoked that “dark night” while campaigning for the U.S. Senate two years ago.

Speaking at The Catholic University of America on Sept. 14, 2006, Casey said the 1992 Democratic National Convention “insulted the most courageous pro-life Democrat in the land, who asked that those who believed in the right to life be accorded the right to speak.”

In his 2006 speech, the younger Casey also took conservatives to task for being too narrow in their pro-life views.

“If we are going to be pro-life,” said Casey, “we cannot say we are against abortion … and then let our children suffer in broken schools.

“We can’t claim to be pro-life,” he added, “at the same time we are cutting support for Medicaid, Head Start or the Women, Infants and Children’s Program.”

UPDATE: Over at America, Michael Sean Winters helps put the Casey appearance in context:

Sen. Casey was aware of the historical import of the moment and he began his speech with these words: “I am honored to stand before you tonight as Gov. Casey’s son…”

In 1992, the Senator’s father was the Governor of Pennsylvania, the fifth largest state in the Union. He was a lifelong pro-life Democrat, one of the few who did not flip their position after Roe v. Wade. (Curiously, one of the other pro-life Democrats who did not abandon her defense of pre-natal life was Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso, the first woman elected governor of a state in her own right.) Gov. Casey wanted to address the convention on the issue of abortion. He was barred from the podium.

Some of the 1992 campaign officials have tried to re-write the history of that first class snub. Last night on CNN, former Clinton aide Paul Begala denied that abortion was the reason Gov. Casey was barred from speaking. He noted that Casey had not endorsed the ticket and “wanted to speak about abortion for thirty minutes” and “no one” wanted that. Well, Mr. Begala, many of us pro-life Democrats did want that. (Would twenty minutes have been okay?) We certainly did not want to see the most noted spokesman of our cause denied even the right to speak. Nor did we want to belong to a party that applied such a litmus test. The governor of a state you need to win can talk about whatever he or she wants when they address a national convention.

For many pro-life Democrats, the appearance of Gov. Casey’s son at the podium last night was the important unity speech. The pro-choice litmus test had been set aside. No one deleted Sen. Casey’s reference to abortion in his speech, nor his acknowledgement of an “honest disagreement” with this year’s nominee, Barack Obama, on that issue.

It’s worth noting, however, that Casey fis is not exactly a paragon of the pro-life cause. A reader wrote to remind me that he’s gotten a significant approval rating from NARAL.