Former President Joe Biden received an award from Planned Parenthood of Delaware on Thursday, Sept. 24, recognizing his years of support for abortion rights and what the organization describes as reproductive health care.
Biden received the 2026 Sonia Schorr Sloan Service Award during Planned Parenthood of Delaware’s fundraising gala at The Waterfall in Claymont, Delaware. Photographs from the event published through the USA TODAY Network confirm that former First Lady Jill Biden introduced her husband before he received the award.
According to LifeNews, Biden described the recognition as deeply personal because the award is named for Sonia “Sonny” Schorr Sloan, whom he identified as a “close friend and early supporter.”
“This is an incredible honor,” Biden told those gathered at the event, according to LifeNews.
Biden said Sloan played an important role in his political career, telling the audience that he would not have become a U.S. senator or president “if it weren’t for Sonny Sloan.”
His remarks also turned to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended recognition of a federal constitutional right to abortion.
According to LifeNews, Biden said Sloan would have felt “devastated” by the ruling, along with “anger and astonishment.”
“Following the Dobbs decision, as president, I tried to do what I knew Sonny would have done,” Biden said, according to LifeNews.
Biden then pointed to actions taken by his administration following the Supreme Court ruling.
“We took action. We signed executive orders to protect access to reproductive health care, including emergency medical care,” Biden said.
Biden’s characterization of abortion as reproductive health care stands in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the dignity and protection owed to unborn human life. The Catholic Church teaches that human life “must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception” and has consistently rejected direct abortion as morally wrong.
The award comes as Planned Parenthood remains one of the country’s most prominent providers and advocates of abortion. Planned Parenthood itself lists abortion among the services available through its health centers, alongside services including contraception and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
During his remarks, Biden also urged supporters not to underestimate the political influence of women following the Dobbs decision.
“You have no idea how powerful women are in this country,” Biden said, according to LifeNews. “You are about to find out.”
Biden’s appearance highlights the sharp divide that continues to surround abortion in the United States more than four years after Roe was overturned.
For Catholics, the debate also carries a fundamental moral dimension. Church teaching holds that the dignity of every human person begins before birth and does not depend upon age, development, health or circumstance.
Biden, a Catholic, repeatedly supported legal abortion during his presidency, placing his administration’s abortion policies in conflict with the Church’s teaching on the protection of unborn human life.
Thursday’s award therefore represents more than recognition of a former president’s political career. It underscores the continuing national conflict over abortion and the profound disagreement between the abortion-rights policies Biden championed in office and the Catholic Church’s call to protect human life from conception until natural death.
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Planned parenthood? What a play on words that is! Joe Biden a Catholic? What a joke that is! I can’t believe that this guy is even referred to being Catholic. Its all about the catholic votes from catholics that are weekend catholics. Joe Biden , Nancy Poloci, and many other supposedly catholics that cut across the grain of Catholic Teachings, then are referred to as Catholics but in Catholic Teachings are not. It is the individual wanting this title for political gain. It is a church corrupted that excepts their political sabotage. I can only believe that it’s about Power and money sometimes? Joe biden goes to mass and is given communion is a Shameful thing…not just my opinion but as per Catholic Teachings. And don’t say hes forgiven by confession, because he keeps angling the same way for abortion time and time again. Planned parenthood has killed more souls than the Germans did in the second world War. They appear to be trying to exceed Stalins goal also…Planned Parenthood is a fancy way of labeling a product to sell to the general public. Sounds good right “Planned Parenthood “. Its the same thing as a extermination camp. Just worded nicely to deceive…Just like Joe Biden being catholic.
I wonder how much that award will help him on Judgement Day
Women mean nothing to democrats except political advantage. They kill our babies and put men in our sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms. They only care about women as far as our ballots go.
Shame on democrats.
Exactly. Does anyone else see all the irony in democrat policies?
shame on democrats anyone who votes for democrats is NOT CATHOLIC to be clear
And i am a woman who feels much safer under conservatives cause they wont let us get raped/murdered and wont have freaks in our bathrooms.
Sela I agree 100%
So you call yourself a Catholic. Where does “thou shalt not murder” fit in for you? Have you considered that life being protected from “birth to natural death” is too old school for you? Joe Biden is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” just like everyone who votes for democrats. I am so disgusted that he hides behind the honorable term “Catholic” and fights more for people who kill babies than for Christians murdered in the Middle East and Asia.
Heh. Is he reading off a piece of paper again or does he actually know what he’s saying