Richard A. Sokerka
We should all know by now just how deeply entrenched the Democratic Party is in the culture of death that St. Pope John Paul II warned us about in its total support of the abortion industry and its approval of infanticide. The Democrats reached another new low last week when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) went off the deep end when speaking to a crowd of abortion-rights supporters outside the Supreme Court building. There, he called out by name Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, saying “ They won’t know what hit them” if they vote to uphold abortion restrictions. “I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price,” Schumer said.
What provoked this reprehensible behavior from the senator?
That the Supreme Court was hearing oral argument in an abortion case out of Louisiana, June Medical Services v. Russo. The case challenges a Louisiana law that requires abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges to protect a woman’s safety. Kat Talalas with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities summed up what the case is about and its importance in the pro-life movement: “Women, their bodies, and their babies are immeasurably valuable. The violent act of abortion not only destroys the lives of unborn children, but also often severely harms women’s physical, psychological, and spiritual health. Louisiana is right to prioritize women over abortion industry profits. All states, not only Louisiana, have a strong interest in regulating a procedure which is lethal to children and immensely damaging to women. It adds insult to injury, and speaks to the callousness of the abortion industry, that providers are seeking to overturn basic, standard protections for women seeking this life-altering procedure. The Catholic Church encourages all people of faith to pray about the outcome to this very important case. We also ask all to pray for the women who are compelled to seek abortion: that they may find alternatives that value their health and well-being, and the lives of their precious children.”
Chief Justice John Roberts publicly chastised Schumer over his comments. “Statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,” he said.
Schumer’s apology the next day was milquetoast: He simply said, “I shouldn’t have used the words.”
If an ordinary citizen had used “those words” in public, that person would have been facing arrest for the threat they posed to the Justices. At the least, Schumer needs to be censured for his threats against U.S. Supreme Court Justices by the Senate. Moreover, like all politicians who steadfastly support a culture of death in America, he and his ilk should be censured in the voting booth.