James Talarico ruthlessly fact-checked by voter after claiming Bible is ‘silent’ on abortion at CNN town hall
Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico was ruthlessly fact-checked by a Catholic voter during a Texas town hall Wednesday after he claimed the Bible doesn’t take a stance on abortion.
Talarico, a Christian seminarian and state lawmaker, attempted to convince the self-described “one-issue voter,” Jody Hunt, that his pro-choice position is compatible with her faith because “the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion.”
Hunt, respectfully, wasn’t buying it.
She allowed Talarico to finish his point that “certain policy levers” — absent banning the procedure — can reduce abortions nationwide, before her mic-drop moment.
“I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the 10 Commandments: ‘Thou shall not kill,’” Hunt shot back.
She added, “And as Catholics, we take great insult, I guess sometimes, when it’s described that way.”
Hunt further noted that Talarico’s call for expanding access to contraception and what he described as “age-appropriate sex education” is a “very trying thing” for Catholics.
“We believe the parents are the primary educators of our children, and so, one of the things that we really struggle with is having any government interference with how we educate our children,” she said. “So I know we’re going to agree to disagree on that, but I do appreciate your comments on tending to the life from the womb to the tomb, and I think that’s one common ground we can come to.”
Talarico continued to defend his stance, explaining that he doesn’t view the termination of a pregnancy as a violation of the Bible’s fundamental principles.
Read more Rep. Ilhan Omar investigated in DC, Minnesota over inflating net worth, immigration fraud: sources
“If I believed that abortion was murder, that it violated the 10 Commandments, then I wouldn’t support it,” he said, claiming that the current abortion ban in Texas has resulted in “women dying in emergency room parking lots.”
“And so, if we are authentically pro-life, I think we should be disturbed by the outcomes of this extreme abortion ban,” Talarico argued.
The back-and-forth took place during a period in the town hall, hosted by CNN and Jubilee, when voters were allowed to come up to the stage and sit directly across from the candidate to debate him.
Talarico faced several questions from voters about his faith, voter ID laws, the national debt, and transgender procedures for minors during the hour-and-a-half-long forum.
The moderator, CNN’s Erin Burnett, noted that Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton declined an invitation to participate in the town hall.
Talarico has a 2.6 percentage point polling edge over Paxton in the key Senate race, according to a RealClearPolitics average of surveys.
Democrats have not won a Senate race in Texas since 1988.
