Catholic Bishop: Christian Voters “Cannot Support Candidates Who Will Advance Abortion”

 

Catholic Bishop: Christian Voters “Cannot Support Candidates Who Will Advance Abortion”

 NATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER   AUG 31, 2020   |   1:06PM    WASHINGTON, DC

Catholic Archbishop Samuel Aquila urged Americans to “embrace the Gospel of Life” last week after the conclusion of the Republican and Democrat national conventions.

Aquila, the archbishop of Denver, Colorado, has been advocating for the rights and protections of unborn babies for years. Four years ago, he also said Catholics, in good conscience, “cannot support candidates who will advance abortions,” Breitbart reports.

On Friday, Aquila posted a meme on Twitter that compared two Catholic speakers featured at the parties’ conventions earlier this month.

“A tale of two nuns. One follows church teaching, one does not. RNC Sister Diedre [Byrne]: As a physician I can unequivocally say life begins at conception. DNC Sister Simone [Campbell]: Abortion is above my pay grade,” the meme stated.

Emphasizing the importance of protecting unborn babies, Aquila said the meme speaks for itself. He also prayed, “Lord, help us embrace the Gospel of Life!”

“This is about Catholic teaching, the seriousness of abortion, & never to be dismissive or flippant with so serious a matter,” Aquila continued. “Catholic public persons & every Catholic has the responsibility to be faithful to the Gospel of Life.”

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The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is valuable, from conception to natural death, and abortion is evil because it kills a unique, living child inside its mother’s womb.

Abortions destroy the lives of nearly 1 million unborn babies every year, and the two major political parties’ views on the matter could not be more opposite.

The Democratic Party supports abortions without restriction and wants to force taxpayers to pay for them. Its presidential candidate, Joe Biden, touts himself as a devout Catholic, but he has abandoned his faith’s teaching on the matter and become even more pro-abortion during his presidential run.

The Democratic National Convention invited Campbell, a liberal Catholic nun, to speak. While she did talking about ending “structural racism, bigotry and sexism so rife now in our nation and in our history,” she did not include unborn babies in her advocacy for the vulnerable. When recently asked about her stance on abortion, Campbell said the issue is “above my pay grade.”

In contrast, the Republican Party recognizes that life begins at conception and supports protecting unborn babies’ lives. President Donald Trump has taken numerous actions to protect unborn babies and the pro-life advocates who are working to save them.

The Republican National Convention featured numerous pro-life advocates, including Abby Johnson, Nick Sandmann and former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, as well as Sister Byrne.

In her speech, the pro-life nun described unborn babies as “the largest marginalized group in the world” because of abortion.

“We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb,” Byrne said. “Keep in mind, the laws we create define how we see our humanity. We must ask ourselves: What we are saying when we go into a womb and snuff out an innocent, powerless, voiceless life?”

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Trump Admin Tells UN: There is Absolutely No Right to Kill Babies in Abortions

 

Trump Admin Tells UN: There is Absolutely No Right to Kill Babies in Abortions

 INTERNATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER   AUG 31, 2020   |   5:32PM    WASHINGTON, DC

The Trump administration criticized the United Nations again this summer for trying to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to push its pro-abortion agenda.

“This is a perversion of the human rights system and the founding principles of the United Nations,” Andrew Bremberg, the U.S. Ambassador to the Office of the United Nations, wrote in a letter dated Aug. 11.

The Catholic News Service reports he also criticized the UN for being “notably quiet” on the horrific reports of human rights abuses in China, including forced abortions through all nine months of pregnancy, infanticide and the placement of ethnic minorities in concentration camps.

The letter is addressed to the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health and the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, according to the report.

Bremberg responded to the groups after they wrote a “bizarre and inexplicable letter” May 22 accusing the United States of “undue restrictions” on abortion during the coronavirus pandemic, he wrote. The UN groups’ letter referred to states that tried to include elective abortions in their temporary halts on elective medical procedures during the initial outbreak.

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“As United Nations human rights mandate holders, you are undoubtedly aware that international human rights law does not recognize any ‘right to abortion,’” Bremberg responded. “The United States is disappointed by and categorically rejects this transparent attempt to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to assert the existence of such a right.”

He also pointed to a June 1 letter from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the United States Agency for International Development stating that the United Nations “does not promote, much less impose, abortion on anyone, nor is it intended to do so.”

Bremberg slammed the UN groups for wasting their limited time and resources on “spurious allegations” rather than working to end actual human rights abuses that are occurring in China and other parts of the world.

Earlier this summer, the Trump administration sanctioned several Chinese government officials in the wake of an Associated Press report documenting numerous human rights abuses, including forced abortions and sterilizations. Then, in August, Radio Free Asia reported even more details, interviewing a former Xinjiang obstetrician who said hospitals were ordered to abort unborn babies and kill newborns if their parents did not follow the communists’ family planning rules.

Bremberg said the United States and other countries are growing frustrated as they “increasingly see the UN’s human rights system as utterly broken.”

“At the same time, we see violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a massive scale that generate little or no comment by these same guardians,” Bremberg said.

President Donald Trump and his administration have been pushing back against pro-abortion politics at the UN. Since 2017, Trump has defunded the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) of tens of millions of U.S. tax dollars because it pushes abortions on other countries and has worked with China for decades to implement its oppressive population control policies.

Under the pro-abortion Obama administration, U.S. taxpayers gave more than $300 million to UNFPA.

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Bishop Says Catholic Politicians Can’t Support Abortion. Joe Biden Should Pay Attention

 

Bishop Says Catholic Politicians Can’t Support Abortion. Joe Biden Should Pay Attention

 NATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER   AUG 31, 2020   |   4:40PM    WASHINGTON, DC

Catholic Church leaders are becoming increasingly vocal in their insistence that Catholic politicians stop supporting the legalized killing of human beings in abortions and euthanasia. And one bishops words on Catholic politicians and abortions are something Joe Biden should pay attention to closely.

Speaking Saturday during a meeting of Latin American bishops, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Pontifical Academy for Life said Catholic politicians are making a “great mistake” when they promote life-destroying legislation, the Catholic News Service reports.

“The Church is very clear in this regard. It is a response from the Catechism. It is a great mistake to promote legislation on abortion and euthanasia,” Paglia said.

Latin American countries are facing intense international pressure from abortion activists to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions. Meanwhile, some of the most prominent Catholic politicians in the United States, including Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, are openly advocating for abortions both in the U.S. and abroad.

Paglia did not mention any names or political parties, but he said politicians have a duty to protect the most vulnerable, including babies in the womb.

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According to the report:

The archbishop said that political leaders should try to improve “bad and sinful legislation” and added that “politicians, both Christians and other politicians, have to hear the validity of supporting and aiding the lives of all, and especially of the most fragile.”

Of that obligation, Paglia, said, “there is no doubt.”

Later, when asked about consequences for Catholic politicians who openly defy church teachings about the sanctity of human life, Paglia said the focus should be on their salvation, not punishments.

“We are interested in the clarity of condemning the error but we must do everything to convert the one who errs, to help save him,” the archbishop said. “The Church has a great responsibility so that its members, first of all, convert to the Gospel of life, to the beauty of life. It is important that we avoid the dirty work of death and carry out the beautiful work of life.”

Many other Catholic leaders in the U.S. and abroad also are urging Catholics to stand up for the sanctity of every human life, born and unborn. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops  is emphasizing the “threat of abortion” in their voting guide for Catholics in 2020.

In January, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ pro-life committee, said protecting unborn babies’ right to life is the “preeminent” social problem of modern times.

Bishop Robert Deeley, of Portland, Maine, made a similar statement over the weekend in his homily, according to CNA.

“Our decision as to how we vote should be grounded in our care for each other, and particularly for those who are most needy,” Deeley said. “… Respect for the dignity of each human person is the core of Catholic social and moral teaching. The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred, from conception to natural death, and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.”

Other bishops have urged Christians to dedicate time to pray daily for an end to abortion this summer. And last year, a South Carolina priest denied communion to Biden because of his pro-abortion stance. Biden, who claims to be Catholic, supports abortions without limits and wants to force taxpayers to fund them.

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What Biden and Harris Stand For is Horrifying: Ripping Babies Limb From Limb in Abortions

 

What Biden and Harris Stand For is Horrifying: Ripping Babies Limb From Limb in Abortions

 OPINION   CATHERINE GLEN FOSTER   AUG 31, 2020   |   10:22AM    WASHINGTON, DC

Was I reading The Washington Post or The Onion? This week, DC’s leading newspaper wrote about Republican and Democratic positions on abortion in the context of describing one voter’s choice between voting for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. That voter, New Jersey mother Gia Capriotti, does not like President Trump personally but finds former Vice President Joe Biden’s position on abortion to be simply untenable.

Capriotti shares, “What Biden and Harris stand for — that’s horrifying. A woman seven months pregnant — that baby is experiencing pain and being ripped limb from limb. That’s torture.” She’s right.

Studies have repeatedly shown that not only are children capable of feeling pain from late-term abortions but that these elective abortions of viable children are nearly 100 times more likely to result in their mothers’ death than a first-trimester abortion.

Incredibly, The Washington Post “fact checks” Capriotti and blatantly misleads readers about the Democratic Party’s platform on abortion. The Post article says: “The policies Democrats support generally limit abortions to the first 20 to 24 weeks of gestation. Most abortions are performed at eight weeks or earlier. Experts have told The Washington Post that abortions up to the moment of birth, what could be described as infanticide, are not happening in the United States.”

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Seriously? Have the so-called fact-checkers at The Washington Post not read the Democratic Party platform? Were they on vacation when exactly zero Democratic senators voted to protect pain-capable children? Have they not been paying attention to the laws in states like Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, and Virginia?

The Democratic governor of Virginia — a man considered a moderate in his party — proved on live radio that the Post’s description is inaccurate. When asked what should happen when a child is born alive in the course of an abortion, Gov. Ralph Northam stated, “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

A born, living human being—with no human rights. That is the position of the Democratic Party. The Democratic platform calls for worldwide, unlimited, taxpayer-funded elective abortion on demand. Not only that, but the Democratic establishment also promises a litmus test for federal judges who will rule without fail for elective abortion on demand, no matter what the law or facts provide. The Democratic establishment is a hotbed of abortion extremism the likes of which we have never before seen on a national scale.

Even with all of these inaccuracies, The Washington Post got the underlying story right! The Democratic Party is as radical as we have ever seen on the issue of abortion, but the policies that average Democrats support generally do holistically protect life and limit abortions. Polling and social research consistently show that approximately one-third of registered Democrats oppose killing the most vulnerable among us and consider themselves to be pro-life. That’s more than 20 million Democrats!

We at Americans United for Life commissioned an independent poll that found that self-described pro-choice Americans overwhelmingly oppose late-term abortions. They say, “If that’s what pro-choice is, I want no part of it.”

The sorry reality is that the Democratic Party simply doesn’t listen to its own voters. It’s a shame that party leaders are putting the demands of abortion industry lobbyists before the core convictions of their base.

The Democratic Party asserts, “We are fighting for a better, fairer, and brighter future for every American.” Except for those defenseless children soon to be born, the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities. Except for those women who don’t get to see their ultrasounds because laws protecting their fundamental right to their own health-care information—to basic informed consent—have been blocked by Democrats. Except for those women who suffer botched abortions and find themselves abandoned at the abortion facility’s doors in need of life-saving care because Democrats wiped out an emergency transfer law ensuring continuity of care.

The outlook of the average Democratic voter remains generally pro-life, but the Democratic Party bosses and many politicians (with some refreshing exceptions) are pro-abortion through and through. We cannot change this by avoiding hard conversations. The only way to overcome the injustice of abortion is by continuing to speak up and speak out in public life.

While Biden appears intent on closing the big tent and leading his party towards a dystopian future through a fundamentally warped view of the human right to life, it does make me hopeful about what a truly life-affirming president could soon do.

For example, I was inspired by Dr. Chad Pecknold’s recent public call for the president to implement what he terms the “Lincoln Proposal,” wherein the president would use the U.S. Constitution’s Article II power to provide protection under the law for children in the womb through executive interpretation of the 14th Amendment. This is an ambitious and courageous proposal that would echo the strategy President Lincoln used to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s horrendous and shameful 1857 Dred Scott decision.

A brave president might use the same executive power to confront and diminish the barbarity of the lawful violence, mass killing, and self-harm perpetuated by the abortion industry and their political enablers.

LifeNews Note: Catherine Glenn Foster is president and CEO of Americans United for Life. Follow her @cateici.

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