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President Joe Biden, a self-proclaimed Catholic, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards on Wednesday in a private ceremony.

Richards oversaw nearly 4 million abortions while leading the organization for 12 years, between 2006 and 2018, according to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The Medal of Freedom is given at the discretion of the president to a civilian who has made an “especially meritorious contribution” to the United States.

“Today, I had the honor of awarding Cecile Richards the Presidential Medal of Freedom. With absolute courage, she fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are – a nation of freedom,” 82-year-old Biden said in a post to X. “Through her work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote, she has carved an inspiring legacy.”

According to the Washington Times, the ceremony was not listed on Biden’s public schedule, “nor was his decision to award the medal to Ms. Richards publicly announced until after the presentation. Members of the media were not invited to watch the ceremony, which was not live-streamed on the White House website.”

Richards was at the helm of the organization when Planned Parenthood was accused of illegally harvesting and selling body parts from aborted babies, although the organization denies the allegations. She stepped down in 2018, and still continues to work as an abortion activist. She was diagnosed earlier this year with incurable brain cancer.

Richards has urged women to “be bold” in speaking about their abortions. During a speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago this year, she said women are “unstoppable” when they are able to have their unborn babies aborted.

Biden has been widely criticized for claiming to be Catholic while also supporting abortion. In 2019, he was denied Holy Communion at a church in South Carolina over his promotion of killing unborn babies in abortions.

“You can’t be Catholic and give awards to Planned Parenthood CEOs,” American Life League wrote in response to news of the award.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C.J. Doyle released a statement questioning how any priest can “give a moral monster like Biden Holy Communion…”

“At the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, mass murderers received a just penalty for their crimes against humanity. In Joe Biden’s America, a mass murderer has just been given the country’s highest award,” Doyle said in a press release. “How any priest or prelate at Washington’s Saint Matthew’s Cathedral can give a moral monster like Biden Holy Communion staggers the imagination.”

“The Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, ought to excommunicate Joe Biden, but he is far too busy closing down Latin Masses to take cognizance of Biden’s latest assault on the beliefs and sensibilities of Catholics,” Doyle  added. “Biden’s embrace of the moral equivalent of Adolf Eichmann should put paid to the pretense that some Catholic politicians are ‘personally opposed’ to abortion, but do not wish ‘to impose their religion upon others,’” he continued. “No one who has the slightest ethical discomfort with abortion could possibly honor the killer of nearly four million babies.”

The Biden administration is arguably the most pro-abortion administration in United States history, working through executive orders, rule-making and guidance from unelected government bureaucrats, and various legal challenges to install its abortion-on-demand agenda around the country and the world.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.