Catholic leaders pan Biden’s abortion advocacy after statement on rape, incest exceptions

Catholic leaders are responding to President Biden after he claimed that the Church doesn’t oppose legislative exceptions for rape and incest. His Thursday comments came as criticism of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) 15-week protections for preborn children, which actually does contain exceptions despite what Biden suggested. 

“You have Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and others talking about how they’re gonna, you know, make sure that Roe is forever gone and Dobbs becomes a national law,” Biden reportedly said at a fundraiser in New York. “Talk about, what, no exceptions. Rape, incest, no exceptions,” the president added. “Now, I’m gonna deal with my generic point. I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic; my church doesn’t even make that argument.”

But the Catholic Church has repeatedly affirmed the inviolable dignity of human life and it’s unclear why Biden is implying it favors exceptions. The Catholic Catechism states: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.”

Cardinal Wilton Gregory reportedly said, “The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that life — human life — begins at conception” and that “the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”

READ: Pope Francis: Catholic President Joe Biden’s abortion support is ‘incoherence’

A day after Biden’s comments, Bishop Tobin of Pittsburgh tweeted: “President Biden cannot be both a devout Catholic and a pro-abortion zealot. The two are mutually exclusive. He is a poor, lost and confused soul. Truly, we need to pray for him, everyday.”

Rhode Island Bishop Michael Olsen similarly requested prayers for the president, arguing that his comments indicated some level of confusion and sin. “We need to pray for @POTUS because by his words and actions he manifests at best extreme confusion on basic Catholic moral teaching and at worst the scandalous obstinacy of one steeped in grave sin at odds with Eucharistic coherency,” he said, linking to a story on Biden’s comments.

Meanwhile, CatholicVote asked, “Has anyone seen any response, statement, tweet, or otherwise from any bishop, cardinal, or the Pope?” And March for Life President Jeanne Mancini tweeted, “Joe Biden opposes ANY protections for the unborn. He is hardly the arbiter of what the Church teaches.” The Catholic Association retweeted that post from Mancini.

Those comments represent just the latest in which Catholic leaders have criticized Biden’s public positions on the issue. Biden has claimed to be a practicing Catholic despite repeatedly defying Church teaching on abortion. 

For example, his administration has called on Congress to support one of the most radical pro-abortion pieces of legislation in U.S. history. The bill, titled the Women’s Health Protection Act, would codify Roe v. Wade and effectively allow abortion up to the point of birth. In a highly controversial speech, he also recently associated pro-life laws with “MAGA Republican” “extremism.”

The Catholic Catechism, on the other hand, describes abortion and infanticide as “abominable crimes.” It reads: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

The Catechism similarly calls on governments to respect the value of human life. “The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation,” it reads before quoting the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority,” it reads. “These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being’s right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death.”

More recently, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland and Archbishop Naumann have challenged Biden’s stance on the issue. 

“The President should stop defining himself as a devout Catholic,” Naumann said, citing the president’s position on abortion. Strickland tweeted that statement and said: “Thank you Archbishop Naumann. Let us pray for the president and all Catholic leaders who have wandered away from the Truth. May they repent and embrace the wondrous mercy of Jesus.”

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