KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker took to social media Friday night to urge Republican vice president candidate JD Vance to protect unborn children, as abortion rights remains a campaign topic this election season.
“No party or candidate is perfect,” Butker wrote on Twitter. “I implore my fellow Catholic @JDVance to help bring the Republican Party back in line with the foundational platform that all life is valuable and there can be no compromise when it comes to defending the unborn.”
Butker then added a quote from Father Chad Ripperger. It read, “Our obligation is to vote for the lesser of two evils because voting for a lesser evil preserves the good that could be potentially lost.”
Added with Butker’s tweet was a screenshot from former president Donald Trump’s post to Truth Social, where Trump claimed “My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”
Butker’s comments about abortion rights are in line with his previous statements and are a continuation of his expression of his traditional Catholic values. In May, he made headlines after a commencement speech at Benedictine College where he said most women receiving degrees were probably more excited about getting married and having kids.
In the speech, he also argued some Catholic leaders were “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America,” and bashed President Joe Biden’s policies.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce each separately said while they didn’t always agree with Butker’s views, they valued conversations they’ve had in the locker room.
“When it comes down to his views and what he said at (the) commencement speech, those are his,” Kelce said on an episode of the New Heights podcast, which he hosts with his brother Jason. “I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids. And I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life, that’s just not who I am.”
In August, the Chiefs made Butker the NFL’s highest paid kicker. He is second all-time in NFL history for field goal percentage, trailing only Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker.
