Amy Coney Barrett Defends Her Pro-Life Beliefs: It’s the ‘Position of the Catholic Church’

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday stood by her signing of a newspaper pro-life ad and her membership in a faculty pro-life group, although she did not disclose to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee how she may rule in future abortion cases.

If confirmed by the full Senate, Barrett would replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and become the fifth woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She also would – according to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) – become the first “woman who’s unashamedly pro-life” to serve on the high court.

Multiple Democratic senators, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.), referenced a 2006 pro-life newspaper ad that included Barrett’s name and said the undersigned “oppose abortion on demand and support the right to life from fertilization to natural death.”

Barrett told GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) she signed the ad while walking out of church with her family. It was sponsored by the St. Joseph County Right to Life.

“At the back of church there was a table set up for people on their way out of mass to sign a statement validating their commitment to the position of the Catholic church on life issues,” Barrett said. “… The statement that I signed, it was affirming the protection of life from conception to natural death.”

Barrett also was a member of…