Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeatedly said abortion restrictions are “sinful,” standing in direct contradiction to her Catholic faith.
Pelosi made the comments during an Aug. 26 Roundtable on Women’s Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. She also called abortion restrictions an “assault” on women, women of color and low-income families, according to a transcript of the roundtable.
“But one word that pervade [sic] through all of the discussion was the word ‘justice.’ The fact that this is such an assault on women of color and women – lower income families is just sinful. It’s sinful,” California Democrat said. “It’s wrong that they would be able to say to women what they think women should be doing with their lives and their bodies. But it’s sinful, the injustice of it all.”
She said restricting abortion disregards the health of the woman and impacts the children she already has. Pelosi then accused Republicans of putting democracy on the line through their efforts to restrict abortion.
“And just to say this: we are concerned about women’s kitchen table issues. How they pay the bills, food, school, whatever it is,” she continued. “And now Republicans have made freedom, democracy a kitchen table issue for women, because it is a decision that has cost both in terms of health, in terms of opportunity for other children, and also in terms of dollar amounts. So this Day of Action, again, is about women, women saving our Democracy. That’s what is happening. Women saving our Democracy.”
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
She warned that women’s “personal freedoms,” including marriage, contraception and right to an abortion are in jeopardy following the June 24 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. (RELATED: Pelosi Dodges Question On Pregnancy Attacks By Claiming She’s ‘A Very Catholic Person’)
Pelosi has referred to herself as a “devout Catholic” despite the conflict between her stance on abortion and the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on the issue. The church teaches that abortion is a “moral evil” and “gravely wrong” because “human life begins at conception,” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone notified Pelosi and San Francisco clergy in May that she is banned from receiving communion due to her support for legal abortion.
“After numerous attempts to speak with Speaker Pelosi to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing, and the danger to her own soul she is risking, I have determined that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion,” Cordileone stated on Twitter.
In response, Pelosi said Cordileone was using a double standard by denying her communion while taking little to no action against politicians who support the death penalty, which church teaching also condemns.
The Catholic code of canon law states that any person “who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess.”