ST. PAUL, Minnesota, September 27, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Catholic Defense League of Minnesota (CDLMN) responded to a recent pro-abortion ad campaign from a dissident “Catholic” group by releasing its own Minneapolis Star Tribune ad clarifying Church teaching on abortion and the sanctity of life.

Earlier this month, George Soros-funded Catholics for Choice (CFC) launched a national ad campaign claiming that taxpayer-funded abortion is a “Catholic value.” The campaign drew swift criticism from Catholic bishops. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, called it “deceptive” and “offensive not only to Catholics, but to all who expect honesty and forthrightness in public discourse.”

“Our ad seeks to set the record straight on what is authentic Catholic teaching on abortion,” CDLMN spokesman Val Baertlein said.

“Here’s the simple truth: Catholics cannot support abortion including voting for pro-abortion candidates,” the CDLMN ad clarified. “Some who disagree with the Catholic Church want you to believe that a person can be a ‘good Catholic’ and be pro-abortion. But nothing could be further from the truth.”

The CDLMN ad reprinted the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s statement on the CFC campaign.

“The ad … makes no effort to ground its claims in any authoritative source of the Catholic faith, which is rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and is proclaimed by the Church. It fails to do so because the actual teachings of the Catholic faith embrace a consistent ethic of life from conception to natural death, and categorically condemn abortion as an act of violence against the most innocent and defenseless among us,” the Minnesota Catholic Conference said in part.

The CDLMN ad printed what the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the U.S. bishops teach about abortion and the sanctity of life: that every human being, from the moment he or she comes into existence at conception, must be protected and that formal cooperation in abortion “constitutes a grave offense.” It cited the U.S. bishops’ Faithful Citizenship document that teaches, “A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who favors a policy promoting an intrinsically evil act, such as abortion ...”

“Catholic social teaching always seeks to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. And who is more vulnerable than a mother and her unborn child?” the CDLMN ad asked.

According to the Catechism, “Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith” (CCC 2089). Canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law says that heretics incur automatic excommunication.