Texas bishop affirms right to life after Catholic voter challenges Talarico on abortion

Fort Worth, Texas, Bishop Michael Olson emphasized Oct. 14 that all human rights depend on the right to life, following a town hall exchange over Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico’s support for abortion.

Bishop Olson commented in a post on X after Catholic voter Jodi Hunt challenged Talarico’s claim that the Bible is silent on abortion.

“The right to life is the premier moral issue because all human rights depend upon the human person being alive. The right to life is the common ground for the morality of all issues considered in policies involving human dignity and the common good,” the bishop wrote.

Hunt questioned Talarico during the town hall event hosted by CNN and Jubilee, as Zeale News previously reported. Talarico claimed that the Bible does not address whether abortion is morally wrong.

“The Bible is silent on the issue of abortion,” Talarico said. “It means you and I both have to look at different Scriptures to try to come to a conclusion.”

Hunt, a professor of applied ministry at the University of Dallas, disproved his interpretation. 

“The Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shall not kill,’” she responded.

Her answer drew applause from the audience.

“As Catholics, we take great insult when it’s spouted that way,” Hunt added.

Talarico has linked his political involvement to his Christian faith, saying in a February 2025 interview that “Jesus is the reason I’m in politics,” as Zeale News previously reported.

Talarico, who is pursuing a master of divinity degree at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, has invoked religious arguments to defend abortion, saying in a May interview that “Jesus never talks about abortion.”

As a Texas legislator, he voted in 2021 against the state’s heartbeat law and Human Life Protection Act, as Zeale News reported. He also backed proposals to repeal abortion restrictions and establish a constitutional right to abortion in Texas.

Talarico faces Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Nov. 3 election.