Vice President Kamala Harris claimed Wednesday that Americans don’t need to compromise their religious values to be pro-abortion.
Speaking at a conference in Connecticut alongside Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson and Representative Jahana Hayes (D., Conn.), Harris was asked how people could support abortion even if their faith forbids it. Her comments come as Democrats in Congress work to enshrine abortion protections into federal law after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“What would you say to someone who understands why abortion should be a personal decision between a pregnant person and whomever else they decide to include in the conversation, but believes they can’t reconcile it with their faith?” asked Hayes.
Harris replied that a woman should be in charge of the decision and that she can involve a religious leader in the conversation for advice.
“That’s such an important point to raise,” she said. “It is her choice and it should be her choice to make, if she chooses a consultation with a loved one, with a healthcare provider, with her faith leader.”
“I say this,” continued Harris, “one does not have to abandon their faith or their beliefs to agree that the government should not be making that decision for her. It’s literally that basic.”
Many Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden, are Catholics, but also vocal advocates of abortion despite the Catholic Church’s opposition to it.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-professed Catholic, said in August that it is “sinful” to oppose abortion, claiming that restrictions are an “assault on women of color and women [in] lower income families.” In May, San Francisco archbishop Salvatore Cordileone barred Pelosi from receiving Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco over her stance on abortion, saying she was no longer eligible “unless and until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance.”
On Sunday, Biden tweeted: “My dad used to say, ‘Joey, don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.’ And here’s the deal: Democrats want to codify Roe. Republicans want a national ban on abortion. The choice is clear.”