Keystone Today

Although Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is Catholic, Carol Haskins won’t be voting for him even though the mother of four children is also Catholic. 

“Catholics certainly need to listen to the faith’s pro-life argument,” Haskins said. “When it's explained to them in a clear and logical way and if they truly understand what abortion is, I don't know how they can vote for a pro-abortion candidate.” 

Biden’s record on abortion has flip-flopped over the years, according to media reports.

“It's outrageous,” Haskins told Keystone Today. “I would guess that he's just going along with what he thinks will get him votes. He doesn't really care about life. So one would wonder if he ever really did care about life or if it's always been a political position.” 

The National Review reported that in 1976 Biden supported the Hyde Amendment, which banned abortions being paid for with federal funds, but by June 2019 he'd denounced it.

“Abortion is killing,” Haskins said. “It’s wiping people out who were destined to play a role in our world. We're not only wiping out one person but future generations.”

Biden’s more recent pro-abortion support is likely to sway Catholic voters, according to Haskins, even though leaders within the church haven’t been more vocal.

“If we had a stronger position coming from the hierarchy of the church on the pro-life issue, then more people would be leaning away from Biden, but we don't have a clear message within the hierarchy,” she said. “We used to have a pretty strong message but you don't hear a whole lot from the pulpit these days.”

Haskins, a member of St. Bonaventure, attends Mass daily at different parishes and wishes for a more unified message on the sanctity of life from the pulpit. 

“Some bishops speak very loudly and clearly but that's if you're searching for the information and you're really in tune with what's going on in the Catholic church,” Haskins said. “There's definitely podcasts out there with homilies and talks from different priests that are strongly pro-life, but then you also get wishy-washy messages from bishops that allow people to think it's okay not to have the pro-life issue at the moment you vote.”

She equates hastening an elderly person’s death in hospice with the act of aborting life, regardless of the individual’s age.

“God is in charge of when a person dies and it's a perfect and beautiful plan,” she said. “There could be so many reasons for the timing of someone’s death. Even with my own parents, I saw God's hand and how it all played out every step of the way. It's totally wrong for someone to come in and artificially adjust what God's perfect plan is. It’s murder.”