Values Voters Matter: Black Christian pro-life advocates torn over whether to support Biden-Harris or Trump-Pence
Article By Tammy Dennis // Faith + Politics // EEW Magazine Online
Soon after Joe Biden tapped Kamala Harris as his running mate, Republicans courted Christian conservative voters that were against or lukewarm to the idea of supporting Donald Trump for reelection by branding the Biden-Harris ticket as the “most pro-abortion ticket in Democratic history.”
Harris’s record of supporting legislation focused on increasing abortion access across the U.S. remains a sticking point in Democrats’ efforts to win over Black Christian voters that are also staunch champions of the pro-life cause and single-issue voters in this regard.
Black supporters of faith pray with Trump at the White House.
Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP
Would-be Biden-Harris supporters are further questioning how strongly Biden would push to end longstanding limits on federal funding of abortion. Biden came out against those limits last year during the early months of his campaign, after years of supporting them.
Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman to accept a major party's vice presidential nomination, has been met with staunch resistance from pro-lifers, Black and White, that view her position on abortion as “extreme.” The U.S. Senator, D-Calif is seen as a pro-choice advocate’s dream, as she has pushed to repeal the Hyde Amendment which blocks federal Medicaid funding for abortion services unless the pregnancy would put the mother’s life in danger, or the baby is the product of rape or incest.
Harris also supports the Women's Health Protection Act which, if passed, would require states to obtain pre-clearance from the federal government before implementing more abortion-based restrictions in their states and counties. The legislation directly opposes the "fetal heartbeat" bill that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Harris also believes that the timing of carrying out an abortion should be left up to a woman.
Kamala Harris speaks during the NARAL Pro-Choice America's luncheon. NARAL is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization in the United States that engages in lobbying, political action, and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion and expand access to abortion.
Credit: Getty
Recently, a group of Black pro-life leaders gathered in Montgomery, AL to continue their quest to end abortions. Among the speakers was abortion opponent Dr. Alveda King, a Trump supporter and niece of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“My uncle worked for the civil rights of all of God’s children,” she said. “After all the work he did, I think his heart would be broken to see what is happening to unborn children in the United States of America.”
Some pro-life voters of faith, despite being torn over the Biden-Harris ticket’s support of abortion, are yet on the fence about whether they can in good conscience support Trump.
Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is one of them.
Hoogstra said in an interview, "President Trump has taken actions on issues like abortion and religious freedom that are important to Christians,” and added, “But President Trump’s actions distress many who have deeper faith practices. I think the president’s behavior has made it a hard choice."
As it stands now, there are troubling signs in the polls for Trump regardless of his appeal to faith voters.
A Pew Research Center poll found that support of Trump by his staunchest base of white Roman Catholics, white Protestants who are not evangelical, and white evangelical Protestants, has slipped. Previously, 59 percent of white Protestants backed Trump. In the latest Pew poll, conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5, only 52 percent backed him. Among white evangelical Protestants, Trump support dropped during that time from 83 percent to 78 percent.
Biden, meanwhile, is currently favored by 90% of Black Protestant registered voters, 70% of Jews and 67% of Hispanic Catholics.
Trump has consistently received his lowest approval ratings from Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews and religiously unaffiliated voters, though some Black Christian conservatives remain non-committal and generally unsupportive of Biden for various reasons.
