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Bishop Barron says Minnesota’s new abortion law is ‘the worst kind of barbarism’

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron speaks June 11, 2019, on the first day of the spring general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Boston, Mass., Feb 2, 2023 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron called a newly passed Minnesota abortion bill that enshrines abortion rights into law “the worst kind of barbarism.”

“I want to share with you my anger, my frustration over this terrible law that was just signed by the governor in Minnesota — the most really extreme abortion law that’s on the books in the wake of the Roe v. Wade reversal,” Barron said in a Jan. 31 video on social media following Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s signing of the bill on Tuesday.

The bill, titled the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, enshrines a constitutional right to “reproductive freedom,” ensuring the right to abortion in Minnesota up to birth for any reason, as well as the right to contraception and sterilization.

“Basically, it eliminates any kind of parental notifications so a 12-year-old child can get an abortion without even telling her parents about it,” Barron said.

“But the worst thing,” he added, “is it basically permits abortion all the way through pregnancy up to the very end. And indeed, indeed if a child somehow survives a botched abortion, the law now prohibits an attempt to save that child’s life.”

Protection for abortion in the state had preexisted the new law because the state’s Supreme Court ruled in the 1995 decision Doe v. Gomez that a woman had a constitutional right to abortion. Several restrictions to abortion in the state have also been ruled unconstitutional in the courts in prior years, the AP reported. Sponsors of the bill supported it because they wanted abortion protections in law, despite the political leaning of future appointed justices, the AP reported.

Pro-life advocates fiercely opposed the bill, as it gained national attention and underwent several hours of debate in the state Senate. The pro-life advocacy organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called the legislation “the most extreme bill in the country.”

Barron said that “I don’t know why this is really debated anymore in our country, but this strikes me as just the worst kind of barbarism. And in the name of, I don’t know, subjectivity, and freedom, and choice and all this, we’re accepting this kind of brutality.”

Barron’s condemnation of the law echoes that of the Minnesota bishops who raised their voices against it before its passage.

The states’ bishops wrote in a Jan. 26 statement: “To assert such unlimited autonomy is to usurp a prerogative that belongs to God alone. Authorizing a general license to make and take life at our whim will unleash a host of social and spiritual consequences with which we as a community will have to reckon.”

In his video, Barron added: “What strikes me is this: If a child is born and now a day old, or two days old and resting peacefully in his bassinet and someone broke into the house and with a knife killed the child and dismembered him, well, the whole country would rise up in righteous indignation.”

“But yet, that same thing can happen with complete impunity as the child is in his mother’s womb about to be born. Again, I just think this is so beyond the pale and that we’ve so lost our way on this issue,” he said.

He acknowledged that there was no possibility of blocking the now-enacted legislation, but said that “we can certainly keep raising our voices in protest.”

“We can keep praying for an end to this barbaric regime in our country,” he said.


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8 Comments

  1. I don’t agree with the bishop on many things but I do with this dystopian nightmare. I thought that once a child was born the culture of death agreement was that it became a child now with this law it can be butchered as soon as it’s clear of its mother (sorry: birthing partner!!!!!) This shows that abortion and LGBT rubbish come out of Hell!

  2. Thanks to Bishop Barron for these comments. However.

    The Minnesota House, Senate, and Govenor are all democrat controlled. After the Dobbs decision the state democrats said that the extreme abortion measure was a top priority. The House and Senate democrats voted for it, the republicans voted against it, and the democrat governor signed it.

    The constant bishops’ and USCCB statements criticizing abortion laws without naming the political elephant in the room is getting old. Last year a democrat candidate for Georgia governor campaigned in a protestant church, and advocated for abortion. No problem there.

    Last month the House passed a bill protecting babies born alive during an abortion attempt. All democrats, including 64 democrat Catholics, except one, voted against it. I didn’t see where any of their bishops admonished them by name.

    In my state, (not Minnesota), a couple of bishops are registered democrats (information is online). Is this part of the problem?

    • If the information regarding the Bishop’s political affiliation is public, its too bad you didnt name them. It might provoke some awkward moments for them the next few times they find themselves making parish visits. The awkward moments might give them some pause about what they are doing. Since I am aware of the Democrats positions on many issues, I would be interested in knowing how the Bishops square their registration with church doctrine, and why they are supporting them?

  3. Im afraid “ crusader “ nailed it. Too many bishops are late to the party or don’t attend at all. Im tired of hearing the admonition after the fact. But thank you bishop Barron for speaking out

  4. Crusader hits the nail squarely when it comes to Catholic Democrats. For some reason, Catholic politicians, for the most part, seem to think that they can separate their personal religious beliefs from their political functions when voting for such death legislation. They are in for a very shocking surprise when they come face to face with God. The vote they cast is to enable them staying in power depending upon their voter base. To put it succinctly, one cannot be a true Catholic and support the Democrat platform when it comes to pro-life issues. Bishops out there that vote for Democratic candidates place their souls in peril. We must continue to pray that God will “wake” our bishops up and all “Catholic” politicians.

  5. “Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’
    “The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'”
    – Gn 3.13

    So then, it might be that these women who permit the fruit of their “love-making” to be left to die on the delivery table have been, like Eve, deceived by the snake.
    What else does the party of permissiveness advocate? Are these people not subjects of the will of the snake? We know what that led to for Adam and Eve: Foul weather, disease, and death.

  6. A price for this barbarism will be paid in this world or the next. It will be paid for both those who engaged in malfeasance and nonfeasance. The Catholic lawmakers and clergy that meet these conditions should be most concerned about the inevitable divine judgement.

  7. Hats off to Crusader for his comment that cuts to the heart of what is going on here: “The Minnesota House, Senate, and Gove[r]nor are all democrat controlled.” The time for cheap talk from bishops like Bishop Barren that deals in sloppy generalities and superficial pietism is over. The Bishop Barren who now pontificates that “Minnesota’s new abortion law is the worst kind of barbarism” is the same Bishop Barren who pontificates that Hell is empty and everyone goes to Heaven. I would submit that this sort of episcopal nonsense is really “the worst kind of barbarism”.

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