A Catholic group is launching a multi-million dollar effort to educate Catholic voters in key battleground states about
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's "anti-Catholic record and policy agenda" ahead of the general
election in November.CatholicVote, a national Catholic political advocacy group, on Tuesday announced the $9.7 million campaign to discourage Catholics from voting for Biden. The organization is producing an "in-depth report on Biden's record on issues Catholics care about," including a shortened "voter guide" version, that it plans to send to five million Catholic voters. The effort will also kick off with a $350,000 digital ad buy in the swing states of
Pennsylvania and Michigan.The group's new effort, which involves full-time staff in six states and thousands of volunteers, will reach voters through digital advertising, parish-by-parish canvassing, direct mail, and "get out the vote" efforts in six states.“Joe Biden’s record makes clear he will not protect our Catholic values or defend our way of life. For Catholics who cherish the Faith and their freedom to live it, a Biden presidency represents an existential threat,” said Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.“Catholics are less focused on Joe Biden’s claims about his personal faith, and instead on what his policies would do to the culture, and their freedom to live out their own beliefs,” Burch added.Biden, who frequently touts his Catholic faith on the campaign trail, invoked Pope St. John Paul II during a campaign speech in Pittsburgh late last month as he encouraged voters to remain hopeful about the country's future.“The campaign for the presidency has come down to fear,” Biden said. “But I believe Americans are stronger than that. I believe we’ll be guided by the words of Pope John Paul II, words drawn from the scriptures: 'Be not afraid. Be not afraid.'”“Fear never builds the future,” the former vice president continued. “Hope does. And building the future is what America does.”Despite Biden's willingness to talk about his Catholic faith as he campaigns for president, he remains staunchly in favor of legal abortion, in direct opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church, which prohibits abortion.Biden's presidential platform includes working to codify Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973
Supreme Court case that legalized
abortion nationwide, as well as making sure his
Justice Department does "everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate" the case. Biden also supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from paying for abortions.CatholicVote's first ad for its anti-Biden campaign emphasizes Biden's pro-abortion stance and invites Catholic voters to learn more about the Democratic presidential candidate's record on abortion and support for it.