President Joe Biden recently tweeted about his plan to sign a law that will codify Roe if his party wins enough votes in November, leading Catholic News Agency to imply, in a report, that the move could backfire by alienating Catholic voters.

“The final say about your right to choose rests with you,” Biden tweeted Wednesday. “If you do your part and vote, Democratic leaders in Congress will do their part. I’ll do my part. With your support, I will sign a law codifying Roe in January.” 

In a speech later that day, Biden further discussed the topic.

His speech, part of the Democratic National Committee meeting at the Howard Theatre, was all about abortion, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported, as Democratic candidates are facing “uphill battles” in the polls. 

Biden has described the 2022 midterms as “the most consequential election in history” as far as abortion rights go, CNA continued. 

Democrats currently hold the House and the Senate by very slim margins, but with all 435 House seats, along with 35 seats in the Senate, up for grabs, the tide could turn this November. CNA reminded readers that 36 governorships are also being contested this year. 

Biden has predicted a national abortion ban if Republicans, whom he has called “extremists,” take both chambers of Congress. Biden’s approval rating and popularity are at an all-time low, prompting CNA to suggest that Biden is trying to give the divisive issue more weight than it carries in the weeks leading up to the election. 

“Today in America, there are women who have been turned away from emergency rooms while having miscarriages, losing wanted pregnancies, and told they need to wait until they are sicker before they get the care they need. Doctors and nurses fear they can face criminal charges,” Biden said, CNA reported. 

Live-Action, a pro-life advocacy group, has countered that, reporting that state abortion laws, specifically since Roe was overturned, have all included exceptions that allow treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. Live-Action asserts that pro-choice advocates are attempting to “scare women” into believing the lie that they will not receive care if they have problems during pregnancy. Live-Action also listed all 50 states’ abortion laws, indicating that the exceptions are clearly stated. 

Some Catholic advocates contend that Biden has betrayed the Church.

“Catholics are appalled by the unprecedented abortion extremism pursued by the nation’s second Catholic president,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch said in a release. “While Americans struggle with record inflation, the president of the United States has nothing to offer but a pledge to expand the right to violently destroy innocent unborn children – up until birth and for any reason.” 

He said American bishops need to move to the fore on the matter. “We need Church leaders to step up and make clear that no Catholic can support candidates or policies that would make America one of the most extreme abortion nations in the world,” he added. 

The Catechism defines the Church’s stance clearly: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed as an ends or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (No. 2271). 

Besides the Catholic Church, Minnesotans have another group speaking against abortion. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life works “to secure protection for innocent human life from conception until natural death through education, legislation, and political action.”