As “a devout Catholic and mother of five in six years, I feel that God blessed my husband and me with our beautiful family,” said the Speaker of the House. “It’s not up to me to dictate that that’s what other people should do, and it [funding of abortion in Medicaid] is an issue of fairness and justice for poorer women in our country.”

“Let me repeat: no one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco responded. “The right to life is a fundamental – the most fundamental – human right, and Catholics do not oppose fundamental human rights.”