President Joe Biden is going all Catholic on the GOP.
The second Roman Catholic president blasted the proposed national ban on abortions put forward by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as a heartless attack on the rights of women to choose whether to give birth or not.
“Think about what these guys are talking about,” Biden told a Democratic fundraiser in New York City. “No exceptions — rape, incest — no exceptions, regardless of age.”
Biden said Graham’s bill banning abortion after 15 months of pregnancy goes beyond what the Catholic church says about the issue, although some prelates may beg to differ.
“I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic,” Biden said. “My church doesn’t even make that argument now.”
Biden vowed to block Graham’s proposed bill from becoming law even if it takes a presidential veto.
“He can pass or it not, I’m going to veto it,” Biden said. “It’s not going to happen.”
It’s not clear exactly what Biden was referring to when he claimed the church’s tenets would not support Graham’s restrictive bill.
The Catholic church’s catechism says a fetus has the right of a person “from the first moment of his existence,” a declaration that is usually interpreted to mean from conception.
But the views of most American Catholic members of the church differ substantially. A whopping 56% of practicing Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, polls show.
The president and his Democratic allies are stressing abortion rights as a key issue in the upcoming midterm elections.
Since the Supreme Court struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the spring, Democrats have ridden a wave of anger among women and pro-choice advocates, including independents and even some moderate Republicans.
Democrats have reeled off a string of wins and better than expected performances in special elections, including the upset victory by Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) in the Hudson Valley swing district once held by Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
Republicans had hoped to keep voters focused on the supposed economic failings of the Biden administration.
But the GOP is mostly controlled by pro-life leaders like Graham, who insist on pushing for unpopular restrictions on abortion even if it costs the party at the ballot box.
