Staff Reports
This week, President Joe Biden attempted to criticize South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham's "Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act" by making a false claim that the Catholic Church is just less strict on abortion than Republican members of Congress. Biden's claim was made in an effort to criticize Graham's legislation.
Biden said that the apparently less radical Roman Catholic Church explicitly exempts for abortions in the instance of rape and incest, which he did so in order to attack Graham's proposals and the "extreme" attitude that Republicans have taken on the issue of abortion. During a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee held in New York City, President Joe Biden made the following statement: My basic point — and I happen to be a devout Roman Catholic — my religion doesn't even make that case now. As a result, we find ourselves in a circumstance in which a great deal has changed. However, they have become much more severe in the positions they hold.
It is very clear that Biden's assertion is untrue. Not only does the Catholic Church not offer an exception for rape or incest, but it also goes much further than Graham's 15-week prohibition, stating that abortion is morally evil from the moment that it is conceived onward. Graham's ban only applies to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. On this very old doctrine, the Catholic Church has never wavered in its stance.
In addition to this, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gave their approval to Graham's plan. Archbishop William E. Lori, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, thanked Senator Lindsey Graham for his measure in a letter that included the following statement: I appreciate your work with the 'Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act' to preserve the right to life of unborn kids from 15 weeks of gestation.
According to Lori, the Catholic Church continues to maintain with unwavering clarity and consistency the assertion that genuine justice necessitates the right to life as the most fundamental human and civic right, for each and every child, beginning with conception. No one, not even a government, has the right to end the life of an innocent human being at any point of its development, according to this statement. In addition, Lori mentioned that the USCCB strongly agree[s] that there is a governmental role for defending the life of an unborn human being.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this point quite clear when it says, since the first century, the Church has proclaimed the moral sin of every induced abortion. This doctrine has not evolved and will not undergo any changes in the foreseeable future. In addition, the Catechism makes the following statement: Formal participation in an abortion is a grave crime. This offense against human life is punishable by the Church in accordance with the canonical sanction of excommunication.
When explaining their decision to bar pro-abortion politicians from receiving Holy Communion, several bishops cite this teaching as their justification. For instance, the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, has stated that he will no longer deliver the sacraments to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi due to her radical and anti-Catholic agenda over abortion.
Biden appears to have a more confused understanding of his Catholic faith with each passing year, shifting his stance on when he thinks life starts. During the debate for the vice presidency in 2012, he stated that life begins at conception, and that's the judgment of the Church. In my private life, I have come to terms with it, but I will not "impose" my perspective on other people.
Despite this, in September 2021, Biden stated that he did not think that human existence began at conception, despite the fact that he had previously reaffirmed his loyalty to the Roe v. Wade judgment, which has since been overruled. After the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year, President Joe Biden issued an executive order to promote abortion rights regardless of state laws.
In response to this, Archbishop Lori condemned Biden's use of executive power as very distressing and terrible, stating that it was being used to promote and encourage abortion in our society, seeking every available route to deprive children in the womb their most basic human and civic right, the right to life. Even Pope Francis has spoken out against Joe Biden's support for abortion, stating that it is "incoherent" with his faith and that he should recuse himself from the debate.
This election cycle, Democrats have made abortion a major issue in the hopes that fury over the recent Supreme Court verdict in Dobbs v. Jackson will help them win in November. Once more, Joe Biden, who is cynical and self-centered, prioritizes power and politics over his Catholic faith. Politically, it might or might not pay off, but when he talks to the guy upstairs, it's a sure bet that it won't.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on The Federalist.
