CV NEWS FEED // Catholic leaders in Wisconsin, including priests and at least one bishop, have reminded the faithful ahead of the April 4 state Supreme Court election about the importance of keeping the sacredness of unborn life in mind.

On Tuesday, Wisconsin’s Catholic voters will decide between Judge Dan Kelly, who is outspokenly pro-life, and Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who is pro-abortion and comes with the endorsement of Planned Parenthood’s Wisconsin advocacy arm. That organization’s executive director said pro-abortion activists “trust Judge Protasiewicz to uphold our values on the Supreme Court.”

Hillary Clinton has also lent her support to Protasiewicz, declaring last week that the crucial Wisconsin election “will determine the future” of abortion “for millions.”

Fr. Brian Dulli of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Cottage Grove urged parishioners in a bulletin announcement to take seriously the “important decision” they will have to make on Tuesday.

“Rev. Brian Dulli’s message explained Catholic teachings about abortion,” WKOW reported:

Dulli said he believes one Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate “has tried to make this race entirely an effort to legalize abortion in the State [sic] of Wisconsin.”

Dulli continued on to say, “As a Catholic, I urge you, for the salvation of your soul; do not vote for her in the Supreme Court race on April 4.” 

A similarly pro-life announcement appeared in the bulletin of St. Josaphat’s Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee last Sunday. “ON TUESDAY, APRIL 4, VOTERS WILL DETERMINE WHO SITS ON WISCONSIN’S SUPREME COURT,” the notice read. The announcement reminded Catholics to remember a number of principles as they investigate the positions of the candidates. The first of the listed principles was “Protect every human life; every human life is sacred.”

Communications Director Brent King of the Diocese of Madison responded to media complaints of the Catholic priests speaking up for the unborn ahead of the election. While Church officials may not endorse or directly call for the defeat of candidates by name, King stated, the “Church also has both a duty and a right to call attention to the moral and religious dimensions of public issues….” 

King added a strong note of opposition to abortion – a central issue in the campaign to defeat pro-life Judge Dan Kelly:

Since the first century the Church has consistently affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law in its respect for all human life.

One week ahead of the April 4 election, Archbishop Jerome Listecki of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee issued a statement on the evil of abortion as well.

“Current positions on abortion state that it’s a woman’s health issue or that it is a ‘right,’” the archbishop wrote:

Imagine if those supporting slavery claimed that it was a right of ownership – not the denial of a person’s dignity, but an economic right. Slavery supports the economy. Would there be anyone, knowing the dignity of the human person, who would support that justification?

There is only one problem with the pro-abortion argument – it is not “pro-choice.” It is pro-death, and the reality is that a life is taken. Imagine this gruesome sight: a fully developed infant, nine months in the womb, and then this preborn is sliced up. Now, imagine a year-old infant, sliced up. Underneath the picture of the nine-month, fully developed preborn is the statement: “This action is protected by the law,” and underneath the one-year-old is the statement: “This is an act of murder.”

The killing of the innocent has never been supported by Catholic Church Teachings. As citizens, we have an obligation to support the laws that protect the innocent. We must take our responsibility, as citizens before God’s judgment, for the times we have supported the destruction of the innocent. We must also take responsibility for the lack of support for the protection of the innocent when we vote for candidates and laws that liberalize abortion laws.

As CatholicVote has previously reported, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race “stands out as the most important election affecting abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. In the wake of that ruling, Wisconsin lawmakers immediately inherited a so-called ‘trigger law’ effectively banning all abortions.”

Wisconsin Democrats and abortion groups, however, “brought legal challenges against the abortion ban, which will inevitably be brought before the State Supreme Court.” 

CatholicVote National Field Director Tommy Valentine explained:

The court is split between three conservative judges and three leftist judges. Wisconsin’s abortion ban is going before the court, and whoever wins on April 4 will likely be the fourth vote for either life or abortion. Put simply, Wisconsin voters are essentially voting on abortion. The right to life is on the ballot.”

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