(LifeSiteNews) — NFL mega-star Harrison Butker called on Republican vice presidential candidate and “fellow Catholic” JD Vance to defend the unborn and push the Republican Party in a pro-life direction.
The Kansas City Chiefs kicker and outspoken faithful Catholic also appeared to describe the Trump-Vance ticket as a “lesser evil” than the Democratic alternative, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
READ: Tucker Carlson, others react to Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech: ‘A liar on the deepest level’
“I implore my fellow Catholic @JDVance to help bring the Republican Party back in line with the foundational platform that all life is valuable and there can be no compromise when it comes to defending the unborn,” Butker wrote in an X post on Friday.
No party or candidate is perfect. I implore my fellow Catholic @JDVance to help bring the Republican Party back in line with the foundational platform that all life is valuable and there can be no compromise when it comes to defending the unborn. However, with that said:
“Our… pic.twitter.com/EkWg80dK1Q
— Harrison Butker (@buttkicker7) August 23, 2024
The post came in response to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s statement that day that his administration “will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”
Trump, who had a pro-life record as president, has said that he would not sign a federal abortion ban or ban abortion pills if re-elected and has embraced IVF and abortion exceptions while at the same time upholding Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Fourteen states now outlaw abortion throughout pregnancy, four more ban it at around six weeks, and several other states have passed new abortion restrictions in the wake of Dobbs. In February 2024, nearly 90,000 babies were estimated to have been saved as a result of the Dobbs ruling, which has devastated the abortion industry in much of the South and Midwest.
READ: Dobbs was no pyrrhic victory: tens of thousands of lives have been saved from abortion
While urging Vance to protect life, Butker noted in his post that “No party or candidate is perfect” and cited exorcist Father Chad Ripperger, who has said, “Our obligation is to vote for the lesser of two evils because voting for a lesser evil preserves the good that could be potentially lost.”
Butker, who made headlines for his pro-family commencement speech at Benedictine College earlier this year, has condemned abortion as a “great atrocity” and said that the unborn are the “greatest victims in our society.” During the Chiefs’ White House visit in June 2023, Butker wore a gold pin replicating the precise size and shape of a 10-week-old preborn baby.
In contrast to Trump, Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed to a sign a federal law that would legalize unlimited abortion in all 50 states.
She has strongly endorsed the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” a Democratic bill that would declare abortion throughout pregnancy a national “right” and invalidate hundreds of state and local pro-life laws, including parental consent requirements, waiting periods, counseling and ultrasound requirements, health and safety regulations, and bans on telemedicine abortion and eugenic abortion.
Harris, who in March became the first vice president to tour an abortion facility, has made abortion the centerpiece of her campaign and has refused to say at what point she thinks it should be illegal to murder the unborn. As a U.S. senator from California, she had a 100 percent pro-abortion voting record, according to Planned Parenthood.
Her running mate, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz, has a similarly radical abortion stance, and last year signed a law legalizing abortion up to birth in Minnesota and repealing the state’s parental notification requirement and ban on coerced abortion.
READ: Tim Walz justified China’s horrific one-child policy and repealed a ban on forced abortion
Harris, furthermore, has a record of targeting Catholics. As attorney general of California, she prosecuted Catholic pro-life journalist David Daleiden after he released videos that showed Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts, as LifeSiteNews reported. As a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, she suggested that a judicial nominee should be disqualified due to his involvement in the Knights of Columbus, citing the Catholic organization’s opposition to abortion and homosexual “marriage.”
Moreover, under the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of Justice has selectively enforced the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act to target peaceful Catholic pro-life advocates like Mark Houck and Paulette Harlow, and the FBI was found to have surveilled churches that celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass.
The administration has also tried to force hospitals and doctors, including Catholic medics, to commit abortions and facilitate the surgical mutilation of gender-confused children.
RELATED
Minnesota babies who survive abortions no longer entitled to lifesaving medical care
Biden admin moving to strip conscience rights from medical professionals
Biden admin orders Catholic hospital to snuff out sanctuary candle or lose all federal funding
Harrison Butker signs massive extension making him NFL’s highest-paid kicker