CV NEWS FEED // House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, refused to answer if unborn children 15 weeks into gestation are “human beings,” but touted her “standing” as an authority on the issue of abortion since she is a mother.
“Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?” a reporter asked Pelosi at a Thursday press conference. “Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade,” Pelosi responded. “I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue as to respecting a woman’s right to choose.”
Pelosi immediately looked to another reporter for a question. The first reporter asked again “Is it a human being?” but the Speaker ignored the question a second time.
Pelosi’s pro-abortion stance has faced increasing scrutiny in recent months in light of her professed Catholic faith, as the U.S. Bishops prepared for their Spring Assembly meeting, occurring this week.
At the meeting, the bishops are deliberating about producing a teaching document on how to properly receive the Eucharist — which may include explicit directions against pro-abortion Catholic politicians presenting themselves for Communion.
A number of Catholic leaders called Pelosi out by name last month, when she dismissively said of the bishops’ concerns about politicians receiving Communion without proper discernment: “I think I can use my own judgement on that.”
“So, in other words, Nancy, we bishops should just be quiet about your radical pro abortion stance, as you facilitate the continuation of the murder of millions of unborn lives,” tweeted Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Madison.
“Amen!” Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver responded to Hying. “We will never stop defending human life in our faithfulness to the Gospel!”
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Pelosi’s own bishop, publicly corrected her. In a statement, he suggested that if she would not yield in her promotion of abortion, she should indeed be barred from receiving the Sacrament.
Readers can watch Thursday’s exchange between Pelosi and the reporter below.