One of the last pro-life Democrats in Congress criticized Joe Biden this week for caving into pressure from the billion-dollar pro-abortion lobby.
U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, of Illinois, recently lost his primary election after faithfully serving his district for years. Because he refused to abandon his pro-life principles, Lipinski was the target of a massive pro-abortion lobbying campaign that dumped at least $1.5 million into defeating him, the Washington Free Beacon reports.
In an interview Tuesday with the National Catholic Register, the pro-life Democrat described the intense pressure that Democrat candidates face to bow to the demands of pro-abortion groups. He said Biden’s position on taxpayer-funded abortions is a prime example, according to Breitbart.
“He was always in favor of the Hyde Amendment and opposed to taxpayer funding of abortion, but when he announced he was running for president, he felt running in the Democratic presidential primary he had to change his position,” Lipinski said.
The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal taxpayer funding of elective abortions in Medicare. Biden and many other Democrat lawmakers used to support it, a position that represents the vast majority of Americans. Polls consistently show that a strong majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund the killing of unborn babies.
However, the abortion industry has been lobbying hard for taxpayer-funded abortions. Last summer, Biden announced that he now opposes the Hyde Amendment and will work to end it, if elected president.
“I think that exemplifies the pressure now that is put by outside groups on Democrats to take an extreme position on the abortion issue and certainly something that’s new in the last couple of years,” Lipinski said of Biden’s flip-flop.
Pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood, NARAL and EMILY’s List spend tens of millions of dollars on elections. According to Pacific Standard, pro-abortion groups outspend pro-life groups on political elections by as much as 900 percent. Planned Parenthood alone plans to spend at least $45 million in 2020 to defeat President Donald Trump and other pro-life candidates.
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The Free Beacon reports more:
Lipinski said a pro-life Democrat who wants to run for office should prepare for these special interest groups to spend large amounts of money supporting extreme pro-abortion candidates.
“Democrats running for president understand that they can’t have these groups opposing them,” he said. “That’s why they take the extreme position on abortion.”
One sign of hope, Lipinski said he has heard from many young voters who say the Democratic Party’s abortion extremism is turning them away. He urged the party to pay attention to voters.
Increasingly, the Democratic Party has aligned itself with the billion-dollar abortion industry and its radical agenda. The party platform supports abortions without restriction and calls to force taxpayers to pay for them. Now, Democrat leaders are openly refusing to welcome millions of pro-life voters.
Polls consistently show that most Americans, including a large number of Democrats, do not support such extremes. According to a 2019 poll by Marist University, 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.
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.
