Sister Simone Campbell Refuses To Share Abortion Stance After DNC Appearance

Despite leading a prayer at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, where Joe Biden officially accepted his party’s nomination in the race against Donald Trump this November, the sister who was present for the event isn’t sharing her personal thoughts on a topic that is usually in the crosshairs between more liberal political leanings and conservative religious ones—abortion.

Sister Simone Campbell, 74, a member and past general director for the Sisters of Social Service and the executive director of the Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, declined to share her thoughts on the topic of women medically ending pregnancies to the National Catholic Register prior to the DNC, stating that a stance on that wasn’t really hers to declare.

“That is not our issue. That is not it. It is above my pay grade,” she said. “It’s not the issue that we work on. I’m a lawyer. I would have to study it more intensely than I have.”

The issue and topic of abortion has long been one that has been dragged into the political arena, with Democrats often arguing in favor of keeping Roe V. Wade, which gave women the right to choose what to do with their bodies and the right to terminate pregnancies, while more conservative arguments have been in favor of overturning it. Because Campbell was a guest at the Democratic National Convention, the interest in her stance has been great.

However, while she isn’t saying anything about her stance on the topic now, she has previously stated that she doesn’t think it is a good policy to entirely outlaw the practice, and she did say now that the economic agenda of Network Lobby is “more aligned with Democratic platforms.”

“We don’t focus on reproductive rights, we focus on trying to ensure life for everyone. As Pope Francis says ‘equally sacred is the care for the born,’” she said.

According to the laws of Catholicism, Abortion is clearly seen as a sin and against the rules.

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception,” doctrine from the Vatican states. “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person—among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

“You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish,” is also stated.

As for Biden, who is now the official Democratic nominee to try and defeat President Donald Trump in the November election, he is Catholic, but has distanced himself from previous support of restrictions on the matter. According to the Associated Press in 2019, in addition to splitting from his church’s stance on LGBTQ rights, he is planning to back legal abortion and funding for abortion providers.

As for President Trump, who was slammed during his 2016 campaign for previous statements claiming he was pro-choice, he has since turned his thoughts around as well to align more with the views of the Republican Party, and became the first sitting president to speak at the March for Life this past January.