Newsom Does Not Oppose Executing Innocent Unborn Human Beings

He was pontificating -- in the presence of the pope.

"They've been deceiving us. They've known the science. They've denied the science," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a May 16, 2024, speech at the Vatican.

What was it Newsom believed these adversaries knew the science on yet denied? It was "climate change."

Who were these deniers?

"It's been said and I'll repeat it: the polluted heart of the climate crisis are these fossil fuel companies that have been lying to us," said Newsom.

"We look forward to maintaining our position of leadership. And we look forward to all of us bringing into our positions of formal authority, the moral authority that is needed and demands of this time," he concluded.

A year later, when Pope Francis passed away, Newsom issued a statement praising the pope's respect for all creation and his condemnation of the death penalty.

"He championed human dignity, especially that of the poor, called the world to urgent climate action, condemned the death penalty, and confronted painful truths," said Newsom. "His papacy was characterized by moral courage, a profound respect for all creation, and a deep conviction in the transformative power of love to heal and unite."

Yet hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings have been killed in California -- by abortionists -- during Newsom's time as governor.

And he has not opposed abortion. He has promoted it.

In the encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, St. John Paul II addressed both abortion and capital punishment.

"Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her freedom," St. John Paul II wrote. "In this way authority also fulfills the purpose of defending public order and ensuring people's safety, while at the same time offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her behavior and be rehabilitated.

"It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not to go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are rare, if not practically non-existent."

St. John Paul then stated that there was never an instance when abortion could be allowed.

"If such great care must be taken to respect every life, even that of criminals and unjust aggressors, the commandment 'You shall not kill' has absolute value when it refers to the innocent person," he wrote.

"The moral gravity of procured abortion is apparent in all its truth if we recognize that we are dealing with murder and, in particular, when we consider the specific elements involved," wrote St. John Paul II. "The one eliminated is a human being at the very beginning of life. No one more absolutely innocent could be imagined. In no way could this human being ever be considered an aggressor, much less an unjust aggressor!"

In 2018, Pope Francis adjusted the Catechism of the Catholic Church to clarify that the death penalty was no longer a morally acceptable form of punishment.

"Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good," said this new language in the Catechism. "Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes."

"Lastly," says the Catechism, "more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

"Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that 'the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,' and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide."

On March 13, 2019, two months after taking office, Newsom signed an executive order imposing a "moratorium" on California's death penalty.

"The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as Governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual," Newsom said.

When Newsom attended the Vatican Climate Summit in 2024, he told the Catholic News Service that Pope Francis praised him for his action on the death penalty. When they met, Newsom said, the pope "immediately brought up the issue of the death penalty" and said "how proud he was of the work we're doing in California."

On Nov. 5, Newsom sent an open letter to the people of California. "I have decided to exercise my constitutional clemency authority to commute all California death sentences to life without possibility of parole," Newsom wrote. "I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us."

But as California's governor, Newsom has promoted the deliberate killing -- the "murder," as St. John Paul II called it -- of innocent unborn babies.

On Sept. 27, Newsom posted a press release on his official website that included a timeline of actions he has taken to promote what he calls "reproductive freedom." It states, for example, that in November 2022: "Voters pass Governor Newsom and the Legislature's Proposition 1, an amendment to the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom -- including abortion care and contraception."

"Californians stood up to the rollback of fundamental rights this year, ensuring women have a right to abortions and reproductive freedoms," Newsom said when Proposition 1 passed. "No other state responded as comprehensively as California in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade nearly 6 months ago."

In September, according to a Newsom press release, he signed a law providing "(g)reater access to medication abortion, making medication available on community college campuses,' which "builds on prior legislation signed by Governor Newsom in 2022, requiring that California State University and University of California campuses offer medication abortion."

According to the Guttmacher Institute, "clinicians in California" performed 184,910 abortions in 2025 alone. In 2024, they performed 183,490, and in 2023, they performed 180,100.

Newsom may have ended the execution of convicted criminals in California, but he is supporting the execution of innocent unborn human beings in his state.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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