CV NEWS FEED // On the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, pro-abortion Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, penned a “renewed statement of principles” defending the so-called “right” to abortion.
About 30 self-professed Catholic Democrats signed the statement, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA.
DeLauro, who is 80 years old and was first elected to Congress in 1990, tweeted the joint statement on Monday. In her tweet, she identified herself as a “Catholic—baptized, raised, and confirmed.”
The longtime congresswoman argued her and her co-signatories’ radically pro-abortion views were “compelled” by the “fundamental tenets” of their faith.
DeLauro claimed the Dobbs decision stripped women of the “right” to abortions, escalating an “ongoing reproductive healthcare crisis in this country.”
“Today,” the Democrats’ statement read,
as Catholic Democrats serving in the House of Representatives, we are proud that we are part of the faithful pro-choice Catholic majority — 68 percent of whom supported the legal protections for abortion access enshrined in Roe and 63 percent of whom think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Our faith unfailingly promotes the common good, prioritizes the dignity of every human being, and highlights the need to provide a collective safety net to our most vulnerable.
A Pew Research poll from 2022 found that 56% of self-identified American Catholics believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases, not the 63% or 68% DeLauro claims. The same poll also found that 68% of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more often believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
Polling consistently shows that Catholics’ views on abortion are largely determined by whether or not they routinely fulfill their Sunday obligation. The 2022 Pew poll found that 65% of Catholics who do not attend Mass every week believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases. The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs Catholics to attend Mass every Sunday, as well as on Holy Days of Obligation.
In June 2021, DeLauro and nearly 60 other self-professed Catholic Democrats issued a similar statement in the form of a letter addressed to U.S. Catholic Bishops.
“To pursue a blanket denial of the Holy Eucharist to certain elected officials would indeed grieve the Holy Spirit and deny the evolution of that individual, a Christian person who is never perfect, but living in the struggle to get there,” the letter stated.
CatholicVote President Brian Burch replied: “This is nonsense – and we all know it.”
Burch continued: “Our bishops aren’t asking our political leaders to be perfect. They just want them to publicly uphold our foundational teaching on life – and to work to stop the killing!”
