Pelosi: Deeper and Deeper...

Now Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempts to justify herself. "The Hill' publishes this statement from Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly (h/t Amy Wellborn) :

“The Speaker is the mother of five children and seven grandchildren and fully appreciates the sanctity of family. She was raised in a devout Catholic family who often disagreed with her pro-choice views.

“After she was elected to Congress, and the choice issue became more public as she would have to vote on it, she studied the matter more closely. Her views on when life begins were informed by the views of Saint Augustine, who said: ‘…the law does not provide that the act [abortion] pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation…’ (Saint Augustine, On Exodus 21.22)

“While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe to that view. The Speaker agrees with the Church that we should reduce the number of abortions. She believes that can be done by making family planning more available, as well as by increasing the number of comprehensive age-appropriate sex education and caring adoption programs.

“The Speaker has a long, proud record of working with the Catholic Church on many issues, including alleviating poverty and promoting social justice and peace.”

"Her views on when life begins were informed by the views of Saint Augustine..."

As we noted in our first post on this issue on Sunday, basing one's decisions on the science of 1500 years ago is a little hazardous.

Fr. Z points out that our beloved St. Augustine also thought "...that males were vivified at 30 days and females at 90 days," and he asks if the Speaker subscribes to that view as well. That's no reflection on the good Saint--he worked with what data had. Pelosi on the other hand, does have the data--she chooses to ignore it.