Catholics for Choice Responds to the 2022 Midterm Election Results

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Contact: John Becker, Press Secretary
Phone: 202-203-0931
Email: jbecker@catholicsforchoice.org

Catholics for Choice Responds to the 2022 Midterm Election Results
President Jamie Manson: “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Catholics and the majority of people of faith support abortion access, no matter what the hierarchy spends or says.”

WASHINGTON — Catholics for Choice, which uplifts and amplifies the voices of the majority of Catholics who believe in reproductive freedom, issued the following statement from President Jamie L. Manson, M.Div. about the results of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections:

“If there is one thing the 2022 midterms should teach us, it is this: protecting abortion is popular. In red states and blue states, with religious voters and secular voters, wherever abortion was on the ballot, abortion rights disproportionately won.

“Catholics for Choice tracked ballot initiatives in six states, and we’re happy to report clear victories in four of those – and counting. Vermont and California passed constitutional amendments affirming abortion rights, and an anti-abortion amendment failed in Kentucky. In Michigan – where we heard reports of Catholic bishops requiring an anti-abortion letter to be read before every Mass in the lead-up to election day – voters still overwhelmingly affirmed the right to abortion access. On the fundamental matter of equality for women, trans folks, people of all genders, we are feeling confident about the Equal Rights Amendment in Nevada and abortion results out of Montana, too.

“Abortion is popular, which is why it keeps on winning. But while we saw major wins for abortion rights on the ballot, we acknowledge the tight margins in Congress don’t necessarily align with the voters’ views on the issue. Ballot measures can’t be gerrymandered, but congressional districts absolutely are.

“As we wrap up this fateful year, Catholics for Choice calls on members of the 117th Congress to do all they can during the time that remains in this legislative session to advance the abortion rights that so clearly matter to voters. Congress must once and for all pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act and send them to our pro-choice Catholic president to sign into law. We also call on the Senate to pass the deadline elimination bill of the Equal Rights Amendment and ask President Biden to instruct the archivist to publish it as the 28th Amendment — because the best long-term solution to protecting abortion rights is to enshrine equality into the Constitution. Our nation’s lawmakers cannot wait for the next Congress to respond to the ongoing abortion care crisis. They must act now.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Catholics and the majority of people of faith support abortion access, no matter what the hierarchy spends or says. Last night’s victories demonstrate just how out of touch they are with the lives of women, LGBTQIA+ people, and all those they are called to serve. Abortion is part of the life of the church — 1 in 4 abortion patients is Catholic — so the hierarchy and their radical far-right allies need to stop stigmatizing and start listening. Rather than lead with an iron fist, the hierarchy would be wise to practice Pope Francis’s call to encounter, exorcise their own partisan extremism, and transform hearts and minds – starting with themselves first.

“Catholics for Choice represents the faithful majority of pro-choice Catholics who did not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned. We are ready to work – with our pro-choice Catholic president, through a new session of Congress, and in states around the country – to restore the fundamental right to abortion access that was so cruelly stripped away through decades of political maneuvering and overreach by the Catholic hierarchy. Emboldened by the wins last night, the fight for abortion rights continues.”

Catholics for Choice shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to a person’s well-being and respect, and affirm the capacity of all people to make moral decisions about their lives.