Pro-life lawyer says Trump's victory 'huge' for Catholic voters: 'Ethical issues'
Catholic voters are the most successful in the 2024 election, the head of a pro-life group has said.
“The victory is huge for Catholic voters. Trump won the Catholic vote,” Shawn Carney, founder of 40 Days For Life, told Fox News Digital.
“I know the Al Smith Dinner gets a lot of attention for that. [VP Harris] not to go to that. But I think it's more than just wearing a dress or a tuxedo and going to a fundraiser. We Catholics always got the impression, frankly, from the Biden-Harris administration that they hated Catholics, and they hate religion.
“We see what they've endured, in some cases, encouraged what's happening to Jews. We've seen the DOJ target Catholics and target pro-lifers. And you just get that sense that they didn't like or didn't respect Catholics.”
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Shawn Carney, founder of the national pro-life organization 40 Days For Life, told Fox News Digital that the Republican victory in the presidential election was “huge.” (Fox News Digital)
According to a poll conducted by Fox News on the night of the election, Catholics across the country favored Trump by nine percent, while Trump won Catholics by 10 points.
Catholics are evenly split between President Biden and Trump in 2020, with 50% favoring Trump to 49% favoring Biden.
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While the Catholic turnout exceeded national expectations, the margin of Catholic voters who chose Trump was much greater in some of the most critical states.
In Pennsylvania, it has 19 electoral votes and is considered the the most important swing situation is both candidatesCatholics make up a quarter of the electorate. According to Fox polls, Catholic voters in Pennsylvania favored Trump by 13 points from 56% to 43%.
Catholic voters in the next two largest swing states — North Carolina (16 electoral votes) and Michigan (15 electoral votes) — voted for Trump by 17 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Trump also won Catholics in Wisconsin by 16 percent, helping to deliver 10 electoral votes to the former president.
Pope Francis holds burning incense as he celebrates Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 12, 2018, in the Vatican. (Getty Images)
Carney said Harris “had an abortion,” pointing to the social issue as the candidate's downfall.
“Kamala ran to have an abortion, she was happy to have an abortion,” he said. “His campaign was very stressful.
“Latinos are anti-abortion. Catholics are anti-abortion. And even liberal Catholics who will vote Democrat may tolerate abortion, they don't want it shoved down their throats,” he said. “His pagan way of celebrating something the Catholic Church strongly opposes is one of his many problems.”
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Carney said many “liberal” Catholic voters on the left “celebrate abortion.”
“I think that one thing that American Catholics don't pay attention to, no matter what you say, is that behavior is important,” he said. “And it doesn't matter how liberal or how conservative a Catholic is. There's still a sense of morality in it that makes people uncomfortable when someone who's running for president is celebrated.”
Pro-choice Arizona citizens gather on street corners. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Carney said other priorities are freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
“There is no doubt that Catholics were looking for free speech. And many people have criticized Donald Trump for his many ways. He has waffled on abortion from time to time,” he said. “But, by far, he's been the most pro-life president, and he's been the most free-speech president we've ever had.”
Carney pointed to Trump speaking for the incident of the poor little sisters after a religious organization was taken to court for not offering contraception.
“There was that sense of, 'Look, if they're going to go after Trump, if they're going to go after the Catholics, if they're going to go after the pro-lifers, it's only a matter of time. They find something in our life that they don't like or disagree with, and then they go after us,'” he said.
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“This was a huge victory for free speech for Catholics because the Biden-Harris administration, first of all, Obama never did this. Clinton never did it. George W. Bush never did it,” he said. “They targeted religious people, especially Catholics, based on religion and the fact that they had the power to do so.
“And you can't target Catholics and expect them to vote for you.”
