Red state death penalty repeal efforts emerge despite Trump’s order to expand use of the practice

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Efforts to repeal the death penalty have been introduced in two Republican-led states, with some lawmakers citing their Catholic faith as a factor in their opposition to capital punishment. The efforts come even as President Donald Trump has moved to expand the use of the practice.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, told OSV News, “There’s a stark contrast between this special Jubilee Year of hope and the retribution and vengeance we see from the early action of the Trump Administration on the death penalty.”

Among the first actions of his second term, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. attorney general to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use,” and to “seek the death penalty regardless of other factors for every federal capital crime” that involves the “murder of a law-enforcement officer” or a “capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country.”

Almost immediately following her confirmation to lead the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued her own directives to implement those orders.

Trump’s order also directed the attorney general to “encourage” state attorneys general and district attorneys to pursue death sentences, and to “take all necessary and lawful action to ensure that each state that allows capital punishment has a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection.”

The death penalty order was among those Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, called “deeply troubling” in a statement about Trump’s first batch of executive orders in his second term, which also included criticism of some of his immigration policies. The bishops have also praised some of Trump’s other orders, such those on gender policy and school choice.

“Especially in this Jubilee Year, we are called to ‘proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and letting the oppressed go free,'” Vaillancourt Murphy said of the 2025 Jubilee Year underway in the Catholic Church. “Indeed, liberation, conversion and reconciliation set us on the path toward right-relationship with God and our neighbors — retribution does not.”

“We know that both the state and federal death penalty systems are broken beyond repair, and emblematic of a throwaway culture,” she added. “We remain committed to the work we have done for 15 years. And so, as pilgrims of hope, we will pray and advocate and educate and advance restorative practices until this system of death is dismantled and our communities flourish amid a culture of life.”

Amid Trump’s efforts to expand the use of capital punishment, some efforts to repeal capital punishment at the state level have been introduced in states with Republican legislative majorities.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers in Ohio recently introduced a bill to block funding for three different life issues: abortion, physician-assisted suicide and capital punishment.

Ohio law already prohibits state funds from paying for elective abortion procedures, and the state has not legalized physician-assisted suicide, but the legislation is meant to prohibit “state-funded” death, said its proponents, including the Ohio Catholic Conference.

Brian Hickey, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Ohio, said in a statement the group “fully supports this unique and urgent answer to the moral dangers facing our state and its fiscal consequences.”

“Our taxpayer dollars should be used for the common good, not in a way that takes life and is opposed by more than half of Ohioans,” he said. “We urge the House and Senate to act decisively to pass this bill, making Ohio a leader in affirming a culture of life.”

Hickey added the Catholic faith “teaches us that every life is a gift, created in the image and likeness of God. This belief compels us to act with courage and compassion, especially when facing suffering. This legislation exemplifies that courage, offering a consistent and holistic affirmation of life that transcends partisanship by denying the state the ability to fund death.”

Asked about the Ohio effort to link the three issues, Vaillancourt Murphy said, “People around the country — from faithful grassroots advocates, to state legislators and political leaders — are assessing what this particular moment calls for, and what opportunities or challenges are before us at this deeply polarized time.”

“We have long said that Ohio may very well be the next state to abolish the death penalty. There’s much momentum in this state and a growing opposition among its citizens to the practice of capital punishment,” she said.

“This state-funded death bill, which is backed by the Catholic Bishops in Ohio, is a new approach which situates the death penalty squarely along the continuum of life issues,” she continued. “We often see the death penalty left out of conversations around pro-life policy and advocacy, or regarded as a ‘lesser’ concern. Unlike those historic experiences of a limited approach to life issues, this bill defends a broader and more consistent ethic of life.”

Meanwhile, in Indiana, House Bill 1030, which would repeal the death penalty in that state, was introduced by a Republican and has gained additional Republican co-sponsors.

Vaillancourt Murphy called that effort “fitting for this Jubilee Year, in the wake of last year’s disheartening resumption of executions” in Indiana.

Indiana Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne, a Catholic who introduced the legislation, previously told OSV News that his heart had “been changed” on the issue of capital punishment, now seeing its use as inconsistent with his pro-life beliefs.

Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to reflect that capital punishment is morally “inadmissible” in the modern world and that the church works with determination for its abolishment worldwide.

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