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Catholic voters can't ignore abortion or Kamala Harris' religious bigotry in 2020 election

We are at one of those regular intervals when the subject of religious faith is allowed past the boundaries of church doors. During presidential elections, believers are expected to line up and vote based on carefully selected values that make for great campaign ads.

As a Catholic, I am well aware that as a member of the largest single religious institution in the United States, I am part of a voting bloc coveted by every candidate. But, annoyingly, Catholic voters are expected to embrace only a subset of the issues that motivate us and overlook anti-Catholic bigotry in candidates' records that occurred when they were outside of the election spotlight.

As a Catholic, the issue central to my evaluation of every candidate is a matter of life and death — abortion. My challenge to fellow Catholics is to consider this carefully.

The science of the development of human life and the many harms of abortion for women and the preborn should be enough for us to react in horror to the loss of more than 60 million Americans since Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton wiped out legal protections for life in the womb. But for some of us, faith is an additional incentive to protect the least of these.

As Pope Francis has said, “The right to life is the first among human rights.” This truth is central to Catholic teaching throughout time. Psalm 139:13-14 notes: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Abortion ends one life, harms another

Faith does not intrude into politics on abortion. Instead, political operatives forced into the law and public policy an irreverent rejection of the value of preborn life.

Rather than helping pregnant women, abortion proponents attempt to eliminate the child, a potential sufferer, rather than the woman's suffering. But the day after her abortion, a mother still needs economic opportunity, equal protection under the law, access to education and empowerment. The act of abortion ends the life of her child and offers nothing in return.

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In this election, stark contrasts also exist between candidates on issues like “codifying Roe,” a term of art that means creating a federal law to allow for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, sometimes with taxpayer funding. Getting rid of the Hyde Amendment — former Vice President Joe Biden's position — means support for taxpayer funding of abortion. Eliminating the Mexico City policy means taxpayer funding of abortion worldwide. "Medicare for All" could equal forcing abortion coverage into all health care.

The tragic passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a clear reminder of the ever present issue of judicial appointments as a reason to vote for those who want to see life protected in law.

But believers like myself have also been very troubled by political trends of “allowing” Catholics access to political opportunity only if they don’t support all that is taught.

Anti-Catholic lawmakers

In hearings of multiple recent judicial nominees, senators — including the Democrats' vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris — attacked candidates like Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who is on President Donald Trump's short list for the Supreme Court, for actually believing the tenets of their church. Harris has a troubling record. While attorney general of California, Harris arranged for an armed raid on the home of pro-life journalist and activist David Daleiden, who had dared to document Planned Parenthood employees' engagement in exchanging money for aborted infant body parts, and she did this after advocating for Planned Parenthood as part of her Senate campaign. Her abortion platform while running for president included using the Department of Justice against states that attempt to pass pro-life laws.

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Last year, Harris introduced the Do No Harm Act in the U.S. Senate, which would water down the federal 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, among other laws designed to protect people of faith. In effect, that change would empower governmental authorities to force people of faith to comply with laws they find morally objectionable, such as pay for or perform abortions in health care if they receive some state or federal funding.

This is not a small threat as twice the nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor have been forced to go to the Supreme Court because they did not want to pay for birth control and abortions, or provide insurance coverage for contraceptives.

Christian case for Biden: Christian conservatives like me should not let abortion and socialism scare us off Biden

A common canard thrown at pro-life people is the falsehood that we don’t care about the baby after he or she is born. The track record of our movement tells the opposite story. A pregnant immigrant at the border and a pregnant woman in any city in America holds the same powerful potential for greatness. As Catholics, we need to evaluate candidates for their track records on the human rights issue of our day — abortion — and for their ability to respect the beliefs of their fellow Americans who should be free to act as their consciences dictate.

For Catholics who say they will not vote for President Trump, I challenge you to put aside personalities to focus both on the human rights issue of our day and the anti-Catholic bigotry on clear display in the other presidential ticket. The choice here is not between good and great, but reliable-to-date and disastrous.

Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life Action and a board member of Catholics for Trump.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Catholic voters can't ignore Kamala Harris' anti-religious bias in 2020