A man of contradictions

RICHARD A. SOKERKA

Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates marched down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., in the 49th annual March for Life, Jan. 21, but our pro­abortion Catholic President Joe Biden literally slapped every single one of them in the face the next day, on Jan. 22, the infamous anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.

In a statement released by the White House, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to defend a so-called right to abortion. “The constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years ago today is under assault as never before,” reads the statement. “It is a right we believe should be codified into law, and we pledge to defend it with every tool we possess. We are deeply committed to protecting access to health care, including reproductive health care — and to ensuring that this country is not pushed backwards on women’s equality,” they wrote.

Biden and Harris condemned efforts by pro-life lawmakers to enact restrictions on abortion, saying, “In Texas, Mississippi, and many other states around the country, access to reproductive health care is under attack. These state restrictions constrain the freedom of all women,” they wrote.

They boldly proclaimed that it is important to “ensure that our daughters and granddaughters have the same fundamental rights that their mothers and grandmothers fought for and won on this day, 49 years ago.”

The statement tells us what we already know about Biden from his first day in office: he continually contradicts his Catholic faith, all reason — and himself.

In an interview with The Washingtonian when Roe was issued in 1973, Biden said, “I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.”

During his long career in the Senate, Biden repeatedly voted for legislation that would prevent the taxpayer funding of abortion. Now he fully supports it.

In his 2012 vice-presidential debate with fellow Catholic Paul Ryan and in a 2015 interview with America — he stated as “a matter of faith” he believes that life begins at conception. But last September, replying to a reporter’s question about the Texas Heart­beat law, Biden said that while he “respects” people who believe life begins at conception, “I don’t agree.” In saying this, Biden was not just contradicting the Church, which unequivocally proclaims that human life begins at conception, he contradicted science. “Scientifically, it is a human life. … Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem?” Pope Francis said of abortion. “That is why the Church is so hard on this subject,” he added, because if the Church accepts abortion, it is as “if it accepts daily murder.”

For political expediency, Biden has changed his stripes to the beliefs of the Democratic Party over the eternal truths of his Church. In denying the truth that life begins at conception, and that every abortion involves the killing of an innocent and defenseless human being, he continues to be a man of contradictions.