CV NEWS FEED // CatholicVote President Brian Burch responded to former President Donald Trump’s recent remark that Florida’s pro-life “heartbeat” law was a “terrible mistake.”
“President Trump’s comments over the weekend have sparked concerns among Catholics over whether he is committed to leading on this issue in the way he did during his first term,” Burch said in a statement:
Pro-life Catholic voters helped deliver him the White House in 2016, and a record number of votes in 2020. He cannot expect to win again without these same voters. Any Republican presidential hopeful must draw a clear contrast to the extreme, taxpayer-funded, unlimited abortion agenda of Joe Biden.
TRUMP DENOUNCES FLORIDA’S PRO-LIFE HEARTBEAT LAW: ‘TERRIBLE MISTAKE’
In a Sunday interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, the 45th president had said Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a six-week pro-life law was “a terrible thing” and “a terrible mistake.”
A number of pro-life activists quickly denounced Trump’s statement, including LiveAction President Lila Rose, who called his comments “pathetic and unacceptable.”
During an appearance on ETWN Monday night, Burch said, “Trump is the most pro-life president in American history, and that’s a fact.”
“And he deserves credit for that,” he added. “And he said some things over the weekend that suggested that if he’s elected again, he may not be as committed to that.”
“I think it’s our job as Catholics and certainly as people engaged in politics to tell every politician, no matter their party, that they need our votes. If they want our votes, they have to come and courageously win them over,” he concluded.
In 2016, Trump won the Catholic vote by a seven-point margin of 52% to 45%, according to Pew Research Center. He won white Catholics in a landslide of 60% to 37% while losing Hispanic Catholics to Hillary Clinton by over 40 points.
According to the Associated Press’ VoteCast, then-President Trump narrowly won the overall Catholic vote, edging out Joe Biden, a self-professed Catholic, 50% to 49%.
White Catholics split 57% to 42% in favor of Trump, while Hispanic Catholics backed Biden by a 35-point margin.
