US Conference of Catholic Bishops tells the faithful to defend the unborn and vote for pro-life candidates

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called on American Catholics Thursday to renew their commitment to the legal protection of human life.

With just over 40 days until the November election, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the USCCB's committee on pro-life activities, made clear this means both voting for candidates who defend preborn children and voting against "gravely evil ballot initiatives that would enshrine abortion in their state constitutions."

"While we live in a society that often rejects those who are weak, fragile, or vulnerable, they are the most in need of our care and protection," wrote Bishop Burbidge. "Pope Francis reminds us that 'every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world's rejection.'"

The bishop noted that while the Catholic Church has made it a priority to fight abortion, now marking October in the U.S. as Respect Life Month, "Abortion has become the preeminent priority for others as well."

"We see many politicians celebrating the destruction of preborn children, and protecting access to abortion, even up until the moment of birth," wrote the bishop.

'Transform our hearts to protect and cherish all whose lives are most vulnerable.'

Abortion is not only a ritual of the Satanic Temple but a celebrated practice for many Democrats — what Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput called a "perverse kind of 'sacrament most holy.'"

During the Democratic National Convention, Planned Parenthood had a mobile clinic parked outside, offering free chemical abortions to mothers in the crowd.

Live Action president Lila Rose noted in an op-ed that "the DNC, backed by the abortion industry, has chosen a different path, one that celebrates the killing of innocent children as some twisted form of empowerment."

Rose added that "twenty-five helpless lives were sacrificed at the altar of so-called 'choice.' All under the guise of a grotesque carnival-like atmosphere."

In the USCCB call to action, Bishop Burbidge quoted another pope's warning, this time St. John Paul II, who said in the papal encyclical Evangelium Vitae that "we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the 'culture of death' and the 'culture of life.' ... We are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life."

Extra to imploring Catholics to vote for pro-life candidates and for fervent prayer on behalf of life, the USCCB called for policies that help women and children in need, and for the continued support of mothers through "pregnancy help centers and [the church's] nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need."

The bishop concluded with a prayer:

Jesus, you came that we might have life — and have it in abundance. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you form us in our mothers' wombs and call us to love you for all eternity. As your most precious gift of human life is attacked, draw us ever closer to your Real Presence in the Eucharist. Dispel the darkness of the culture of death, for you are the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. By the power of your Eucharistic Presence, help us to defend the life of every human person at every stage. Transform our hearts to protect and cherish all whose lives are most vulnerable. For you are God, forever and ever. Amen.

Kamala Harris, whose various campaigns have netted substantial contributions from Planned Parenthood, told Wisconsin Public Radio Monday that she supports eliminating the filibuster in order to nationally legalize abortion.

Harris not only zealously fights for abortion but against its critics.

When pro-life citizen journalist and Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden published undercover videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials callously talking about butchering, playing with, and trafficking baby parts, California's then-Attorney General Harris targeted the whistleblower contra those apparently butchering babies for profit.

Harris authorized a raid on his home, beginning a years-long effort to punish the pro-life activist and to hide Daleiden's damning evidence from the American people.

'Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.'

Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed Harris for president as well as numerous other Democrats who have made clear their commitment to the legal extermination of innocent life, such as:

• New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, set to face off with Mike Sapraicone, a Republican who has referred to some abortions as "murder" and supports restrictions;
• Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, set to face off with Republican Purple Heart recipient Sam Brown, who identifies as pro-life and hopes "women choose life";
• Montana Sen. Jon Tester, set to face off with Republican Tim Sheehy, a "proudly" pro-life Purple Heart recipient;
• Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, set to face off with Republican Eric Hovde, who said earlier this year, "I think there is a point where once a baby can be born healthy and alive, that it's unconscionable that that baby could be terminated"; and
• Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, set to face off against Republican Bernie Moreno, a Catholic who supports federal "common-sense restrictions" on abortion after 15 weeks.

Whereas Harris seeks to nationally enshrine abortion as a right, Donald Trump — who nominated the Supreme Court justices who helped overthrow Roe v. Wade — has made clear he will preserve the new status quo, leaving it up to the states to legislate for or against abortion.

Leftists have made clear they are not content with diversity among the states on this issue. Democrats have pushed radical initiatives in red states to prevent lawmakers from passing pro-life legislation down the road.

Blaze News previously reported that in November, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada will decide whether to amend their respective state constitutions to guarantee residents the legal right to kill the unborn at various stages of development.

While the Democratic Party has fielded numerous Catholic candidates, its support for abortion may qualify them for de facto excommunications.

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable," says the Catechism. "Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life."

The USCCB's committee on pro-life activities similarly did not mince words, noting:

Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church's opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person. This is the foundation for the Church's social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration. Conversely, to claim that some live human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as 'persons' (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights.

Despite the clarity of church teaching, the Pew Research Center revealed earlier this year that 61% of Catholics in the U.S. believe that abortion should be legal.

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