Pro-Abortion Democrat Legislators: There’s No Room in the Democratic Party for Pro-Lifers

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Aug 4, 2017   |   5:03PM   |   Hartford, CT

Connecticut Democrats made it a priority this week to publicly criticize a party leader who said they will support pro-life candidates.

The Bristol Roundup reports a group of pro-abortion Democrats from Connecticut held a joint press conference Friday to urge the party to support only candidates who favor unregulated, taxpayer-funded abortions for any reason up to birth.

“If the Democratic Party supports equality, it must support full access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, for every person, regardless of their income and the state that they live in,” the group said in a joint statement.

Connecticut Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, state Sen. Mae Flexer and state Rep. Matt Lesser signed the statement with abortion activists from NARAL, Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups.

They criticized Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Ben Ray Luján who, earlier this week, said his pro-abortion party will not deny support to candidates who are pro-life.

“No politician should impose purely ideological beliefs on public policy,” they said in response. “As progressives, we call on the DCCC and our state Democratic Party, to support a Pro-Choice Statement of Principles. … This must include striking down economically damaging policies such as the Hyde Amendment.”

They continued: “The Statement of Principles makes clear the fact that abortion is not simply a fringe issue tied to ‘identity politics.’ Abortion rights are integral to women’s economic security and bodily freedom.”

Democratic Party leaders have been pushing an increasingly radical pro-abortion position. Last summer, the Democratic National Committee adopted a platform calling for full support of abortion for any reason up to birth and taxpayer funding of abortion – positions that most Americans oppose.

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But when their candidates suffered heavy losses last November, party leaders began questioning what had gone wrong. The party’s pro-abortion stance has been one focus.

The debate really flared up in the spring after abortion activists with NARAL criticized DNC Chair Tom Perez, Sen. Bernie Sanders and others for supporting Heath Mello, a Nebraska Democratic mayoral candidate who has a pro-life voting record.

Amid pressure from abortion activists, Perez described abortion as a “fundamental value” and said every Democrat should support it. But afterward, Perez faced pushback from members of his own party, and the debate about pro-life Democrats continues.

Democrats like the group from Connecticut do not seem to realize just how radical and out of touch their position on abortion is.

Polls consistently show that most Americans do not want their tax dollars paying for abortions.

A Politico/Harvard University poll in October 2016 found that a majority of voters oppose taxpayer funding for abortions. Just 36 percent of likely voters supported the issue, while 58 percent opposed it. These findings are consistent with previous polls from various groups.

Polls consistently show that most Americans also oppose most abortions and want laws to limit abortions or make them completely illegal. According to a recent Gallup poll, just 29 percent of Americans want unlimited abortion up to birth. A strong majority want abortions to be limited to just a few circumstances or illegal.

What’s more, these Democrats are hugely out of touch with their own constituents. Democrats for Life estimates more than 23 million Democrats in the U.S. are pro-life.

Last year, Pew Research found that 28 percent of Democrats say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases. Marist/KofC polling also found that 23 percent of Democrats consider themselves pro-life and 40 percent say abortion is morally wrong.