Speaker Pelosi avoids question about unborn Jesus’ right to life

Citing her previous references to the Incarnation, a journalist recently asked legal abortion supporter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at what point she believes Jesus acquired the right to life. However, she declined to answer the question, saying she’d rather talk about the subject “in church.”

At a July 29 press briefing a reporter with CNSNews.com noted her remarks at the Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill, where she said that her favorite word was “the Word, as in the word made flesh.”

At the May 6 conference, Pelosi told her audience “you know the Gospel reference of the Word.” She added that people have to give voice to “what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word.”

She cited the Prologue to the Gospel of John’s description of Jesus Christ, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

At last week’s press briefing CNSNews.com reporter Jane McGrath asked: “So, when was the Word made flesh? Was it at the Annunciation, when Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the Creed says, or was it at the Nativity when he was born of the Virgin Mary? And when did the Word get the right to life?”

Speaker Pelosi, a self-described Catholic, replied: “Whenever it was, we bow our heads when we talk about it in church, and that’s where I’d like to talk about that.”

CNSNews.com reports that it sought clarification from Speaker Pelosi’s press secretary Nadeam Elshami, asking in an e-mail what the speaker’s position is on the question “Did Jesus have the right to life from the moment of conception?”

Elshami replied in an e-mail “The speaker answered the question. Thanks.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the Son of God assumed humanity and “made it his own, from his conception.” The Church also recognizes that the child has the right to life “from its conception.”

Speaker Pelosi favors legalized abortion and voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion.