Kirsten Gillibrand’s Exit Proves Democrats Can’t Beat Trump by Supporting Abortions Up to Birth

Opinion   |   Katie Yoder   |   Sep 3, 2019   |   1:17PM   |   Washington, DC

Kirsten Gillibrand was applauded by many in the media as the Democratic presidential candidate focused on “women’s rights,” or, more specifically, abortion. But, in the end, that wasn’t enough to win Democratic voters – never mind general-election voters.

On August 28, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand ended her presidential bid after failing to qualify for the next Democratic presidential candidate debate, scheduled for September 12.

“I wanted you to hear from me first, that after more than eight incredible months, I am ending my presidential campaign,” she announced to her supporters in a video posted on social media.

While the other Democratic candidates pinpointed abortion as a major 2020 issue, Gillibrand made it her campaign’s foundation.

The senator “entered the race pitching herself as the voice of feminism and the defender of families and women’s equality,” New York Times’ political reporter Shane Goldmacher recognized on August 29. That’s because Gillibrand “championed a new ‘Family Bill of Rights,’ pioneered a new litmus test to select only judges who supported Roe v. Wade and traveled to Republican-controlled states to protest new restrictions on abortion.”

And yet, Goldmacher added, “of the six female candidates, she was the first to call it quits.”

On Gillibrand’s campaign website, her first priority listed is “fighting for women and families.” And the first way she planned to do that was by stressing, “We need to protect women’s rights and access to the health care they need.” In other words, abortion.

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According to her site, Gillibrand argued that “Reproductive rights are civil rights” while expressing support for Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

“Kirsten has pledged to only nominate judges who will commit to upholding Roe, and she was the first candidate to put out a comprehensive reproductive rights agenda,” the site continued.

If elected president, Gillibrand promised not only to “codify Roe into law,” but also to end the Hyde Amendment, which generally bars federal funding for abortion. She also vowed to “protect Title X funding and Planned Parenthood.” This was a new fight: the nation’s largest abortion provider refused millions in Title X federal family-planning funding in August after new regulations prohibited the funding from going toward organizations connected to abortion.

LifeNews Note: Katie Yoder writes for TownHall where this column originally appeared.