Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal: You Can’t Be a Democrat Unless You Support Abortion

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   May 22, 2019   |   3:40PM   |   Washington, DC

Democrats continue to alienate voters in their own party by insisting on complete support of abortion on demand.

On Friday, Washington state Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said abortion is a “core ideal” that every good Democrat should support, The Hill reports.

“I think the party’s response will be strong, and hopefully you’ve seen [that] it’s been strong across the board,” Jayapal said when asked about new pro-life laws in Georgia and Alabama.

“Personally, I do think there should be a core set of Democratic ideals that we all agree to,” she continued. “That you can’t say you’re a Democrat if you’re against immigrants, if you’re against abortion, if you’re against gay marriage, LGBTQ rights.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez made similar comments in 2017, sparking a national debate about whether the party should support pro-life Democratic candidates.

Right now, the debate largely centers around U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, one of the last pro-life Democrats in Congress, who is running for re-election. Some Democrats argue that the party should not support him because he believes unborn babies deserve to be protected from abortion.

According to the report:

Jayapal’s comments were echoed by fellow Progressive Caucus member Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who tweeted Friday that the DCCC’s support for Lipinksi was “demeaning to women across this nation.”

“At a time when Roe v Wade is under threat with the Alabama law, the last person the DCCC should be supporting is Lipinski who does not believe in constitutional reproductive rights,” Khanna tweeted.

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Democrats for Life of America responded this week by urging the party to welcome Democrats who believe every human life deserves to be protected.

“We believe that the government has a responsibility to protect ALL those who need assistance,” Executive Director Kristen Day said. “Pro-life Democrats have varying reasons for why we include life in the womb as worthy of governmental protection and support, but we are united in supporting a robust social safety net and other assistance to families who need it. We oppose cuts to programs that provide assistance, and we support a living wage so that families can provide for their needs. We also believe that health care is a right. DFLA was the ONLY pro-life organization to support the Affordable Care Act, and we defended it as a pro-life accomplishment.”

Day wrote a letter to Jayapal asking for a meeting to discuss her abortion litmus test. She said the effort to purge the party of pro-life leaders will not help Democrats.

Polls consistently show that most voters do not support the Democratic Party’s radical pro-abortion stance, which now includes taxpayer-funded elective abortions.

According to a national poll by Marist University in January, three in four Americans (75 percent) say abortion should be limited to – at most – the first three months of pregnancy. This includes most Republicans (92 percent), Independents (78 percent) and Democrats (60 percent). Recent Gallup polling also found that 53 percent of Americans oppose all or most abortions.

A Politico/Harvard University poll in 2016 found that just 36 percent of likely voters supported taxpayer funding for abortions, while 58 percent opposed it.

The Democratic Party has not always been so extreme on abortion. The party, which prides itself in fighting for the vulnerable, once welcomed strong pro-life politicians who fought for the rights of unborn babies. In recent years, however, the party has shifted to align itself closely with the abortion industry, which contributes tens of millions of dollars to Democratic candidates.