President Donald Trump reassured Catholic Church leaders Saturday that he will remain committed to protecting human life in his second term.
The president spoke about a number of issues that are important to American Catholics during a conference call with church leaders. Abortion and religious freedom were among them, The Tablet reports.
Trump repeatedly emphasized his commitment to pro-life matters and warned of the possibilities if a Democrat wins the White House, according to the report.
“[Democrats] want abortion, and they want it now and they want it to go up to the end of the ninth month and beyond,” he said, referring to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s defense of infanticide in 2019.
Trump said he has taken action to protect unborn babies “at a level that no other president has seen before, according to everybody,” the report states. “I’m just saying what everybody is saying,” he continued.
Trump brought up his historic appearance at the March for Life in January and his expansion of the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits taxpayer funds to international groups that promote and/or provide abortions overseas. He reinstated and expanded the policy in one of his first acts as president. His action defunded two of the world’s largest abortion chains, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International, of about $170 million in American tax dollars.
Trump told Catholic leaders that he also will continue working to protect religious liberty. During his first term, he defended the rights of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a charity run by nuns that has been fighting against the Obamacare contraception mandate for six years. Trump also expanded conscience protections for medical workers who oppose abortion, euthanasia and other life-destroying procedures.
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On Saturday, Trump reminded Catholic leaders that Hillary Clinton’s radical support of abortions up to birth turned away voters in 2016, according to the report.
“We did very well defending that during our last race with Hillary Clinton because she had it right up until the time at birth,” Trump said. “We probably helped out the pro-life [cause] more than anything you can imagine. I hope that everyone gets out and votes and does what they have to do.”
Joe Biden, likely Trump’s Democrat challenger, claims to be a practicing Catholic, but he supports abortion on demand and wants to force taxpayers to pay for them. Though Biden claims he would “respect religious freedom” as president, he would force Christians to pay for abortions. He also served as vice president under the Obama administration, which forced the Little Sisters and other religious employers to either violate their faith or face crippling fines for refusing to pay for contraception that may cause abortions.
In contrast, Trump has lived up to his promises to religious and pro-life voters.
He has been pushing back aggressively against the United Nations’ pro-abortion agenda and insisting that countries support women and children, born and unborn. In 2017, Trump stopped giving American tax dollars to UNFPA because it pushes abortions on other countries and has worked with China for decades to implement its forced abortion population control policies. Trump renewed the order again in 2018 and 2019. The decision cut $32.5 million in funding from the UNFPA budget.
At the national level, Trump also has taken steps to defund Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, of millions of taxpayer dollars through Title X and other programs. However, many of these efforts have been thwarted by lawsuits and pro-abortion state leaders who are giving state taxpayer funds to the abortion chain to replace Trump’s cuts.
Last year, his administration also introduced new restrictions to stop taxpayer dollars from funding research using aborted baby body parts.
Trump also has called out Democrats for blocking a bill to protect newborn babies from infanticide. Earlier this year, he became the first president to speak in-person at the March for Life. He also appointed conservative judges to courts throughout the U.S. and promised to sign a law banning late-term abortions if it reaches his desk.
The Republican president also has surrounded himself with strong pro-life leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence and Ben Carson.
