JD Vance

As I read the news I see stories asking why JD Vance has such creepy ideas about women and their place in society, from childless cat ladies, to women being forced to stay in violent marriages, to having no exceptions for aboerion.

I have a one word explanation, and it applies not just to JD Vance, but to many of the women-hating nutballs in the MAGA/Trump cult ... Catholicism.

JD Vance is an adult convert to Catholicism (like me) and he is but one of the many conservative Catholics in Trump's orbit, from Supreme Court Justices to extremists like Nick Fuentes

For those not keeping up with church policy, it hasn't changed since I became a Catholic some 30 years ago. Actually, it hasn't changed for centuries.

- Childless cat ladies ... The church believes that a woman's main purpose in life is to birth and raise children ... Pope Francis: not having children is selfish

- Women in destructive marriages ... A divorce is not recognized in the Catholic church, even if your husband is beating the crap out of you. If you have the time and the money, you may be able to get an annulment, which is the church's end-run around its own rules, for cash. But if you are divorced and you remarry, with no annulment, you cannot take communion.

- No exceptions for abortion ... Even if a woman/girl is a rape victim or a victim of incest, they cannot get an abortion. Even if the pregnancy will kill them, women/girls are expected to die rather than get an abortion ... see Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, see this 9 year old's story. If a woman/girl does get an abortion, she is considered a murderer and is automatically excommunicated.

Fortunately, most Catholics pretty much ignore the church's teaching on this stuff, but don't expect any changes in policy from super conservative JD Vance. He will work to make women's lives as small and limited and powerless as possible, cuz that's what his church seems to want.