After claiming that a bill to outlaw abortions after 22 weeks is “disrespectful to women,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday refused to answer a question put to her by Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack, who asked her, “What is the moral difference between what Dr. Gosnell did to a baby born alive at 23 weeks, and aborting her moments before birth?”
“Okay, you’re probably enjoying that question a lot, I can see you savoring it,” Pelosi responded defensively as the other reporters laughed. “But let me just tell you this: What was done in Philadelphia was reprehensible and everybody condemned it.”
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved the “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protections Act,” a bill that would ban abortions 20 weeks post-fertilization, when the unborn child is about 22 weeks old. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-TX), passed out of committee on a 20-12 vote.
Pelosi complained that Republicans in Congress “passed legislation that was disrespectful of the rights, health and safety of American women… All the people who voted for the bill were men. Disrespectful.”
She added, “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me.”
While Pelosi advertises herself as a Catholic, she advocates for abortion, which, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church, is a “moral evil.”
In 2009, during a visit to the Vatican, Pelosi’s meeting with Pope Benedict XVI took a different turn when the pontiff used the occasion to reaffirm to her the teachings of the Catholic Church on the right to life and the duty of all Catholics to protect the unborn.
Catholic News Agency reported at the time that the Holy See released a statement immediately after the meeting which read:
His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.
Regarding Pelosi’s remarks on the bill to ban abortions past 20 weeks, Maureen Ferguson, Senior Policy Advisor for The Catholic Association, released the following statement:
After witnessing firsthand the atrocious human rights abuses taking place inside America’s late-term abortion clinics it is amazing that this did not touch Nancy Pelosi’s heart. What we learned from the Gosnell trial and what we understand is going on inside other clinics is not only human rights abuse but it also puts women in harm’s way. The only difference between the Gosnell ‘after-birth’ abortions and legal late-term abortions is the location of the baby at the time of death. And contrary to Pelosi’s extreme claim that the Franks bill is ‘disrespectful’ to women, the majority of women are opposed to late-term abortions according to a recent Gallup poll.