The USCCB document has been criticized for placing the paramount issue of abortion with lesser issues like social justice and global solidarity.
Catholic Answers has already answered charges that its guide does not conform to tax law earlier this month, when Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice, a pro-abortion advocacy group, asked the Internal Revenue Service to withdraw the charitable tax status of the organization.
"We had it thoroughly checked out by legal experts, and we're well within the law,” said Catholic Answers president Karl Keating. “In the voter's guide, we don't mention any candidates, any specific election, or any party, and we don't endorse or oppose anyone. We merely state the principles that real Catholics are obligated to abide by when voting."
The "Voter's Guide" cites papal and Vatican documents and identifies five issues it calls "non-negotiable": abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning and homosexual "marriage." Supporting any of these issues, according to the guide, would disqualify a candidate as a viable option for a faithful Catholic.