TYLER, Texas, October 7, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ― Following Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s pledge to create a pro-abortion law, a Catholic bishop described abortion as “the murder of the child” in the mother’s womb, and “death by dismemberment.”
Yesterday, Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, took to Twitter to oppose the Democratic presidential candidate’s promise to make Roe v. Wade “the law of the land.” Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court ruling essentially legalizing abortion across the country under the guise of a woman’s right to privacy.
“We must speak against the fallacy that abortion is about a woman’s health care,” Strickland commented, retweeting an article by the Catholic News Agency about Biden’s “abortion law pledge.”
“Interrupting the natural process of pregnancy is actually a threat to a woman’s health,” the bishop continued. “And to speak of the murder of the child in her womb, death by dismemberment is evil!”
We must speak against the fallacy that abortion is about a woman’s health care. Interrupting the natural process of pregnancy is actually a threat to a woman’s health. And to speak of the murder of the child in her womb, death by dismemberment is evil! https://t.co/Bs0QdwolwF
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) October 7, 2020
At an outdoor town hall meeting airing on NBC on Monday, Joe Biden was asked how he would “protect” so-called “reproductive health rights,” should pro-life Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic mother of seven, be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.
Biden, who was baptized and professes to be a practicing Catholic, said that the “responsible” thing to do would be to pass new pro-abortion legislation.
“Number one, we don’t know exactly what [Amy Coney Barrett] will do, although the expectation is that she may very well move to overrule Roe, and what the only thing ― the only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation making Roe the law of the land,” said Biden. “That’s what I would do.”
Over 100 people reacted to Bishop Strickland’s tweet by press time. Some of the more coherent Twitter users took issue with his use of the word “murder”. Others objected to the idea that abortion can endanger a woman’s health.
However, according to Britain’s pro-abortion National Health Service (NHS), “medical” abortion (i.e. with pills) carries risks ranging from “needing another procedure to remove parts of the pregnancy [sic] that have stayed in the womb” to “serious complications such as heavy bleeding, damage to the womb, or sepsis: this happens to about 1 out of 1,000 women.” Also according to the NHS, “surgical” abortion carries the same risks.
The NHS claims that abortion will not interfere with the ability to become pregnant again, but also admits that it can cause “womb infections” which could spread to the ovaries and fallopian tubes. Pelvic inflammatory disease can indeed increase a woman’s chances of being sterile, the government agency allowed.
The NHS does not mention the risk of maternal death from the procedure, which is also nevertheless a tragic reality.
According to the online “What to Expect” pregnancy manual, the health benefits of carrying a child to term can include less painful menstrual periods, protection from breast cancer and other cancers, protection from multiple sclerosis, protection from heart disease and “a boost in mood.”
Bishop Strickland has been a consistent voice for life, winning headlines by speaking on behalf of the unborn. In April and August of this year, he condemned the use of vaccines developed with the cells of aborted unborn children. In January this year, he supported Bishop Rick Stika after the latter stated that he would excommunicate the radically pro-abortion Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who was baptized and raised as a Catholic, were Cuomo in his jurisdiction.
During the Fall General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November 2019, Strickland opposed San Diego bishop Roger McElroy’s declaration that abortion is not the “pre-eminent” social justice issue of our times.
On February 23, 2018, Strickland wrote a statement on the right to life and published it on the Diocese of Tyler’s website.
“The protection of human life, from the moment of conception to natural death, is an issue of primary importance in the United States, and the State of Texas,” he wrote.
“Every adult Catholic should vigorously defend life, both in the public square and in the voting booth. All persons who are committed to the protection of life should unify around the teaching of the Catholic Church, beautifully taught by Saint John Paul II in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae,” he continued and quoted a passage:
Laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual; they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law.
Strickland was chosen by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 to be the bishop of Tyler.