More than 100 pro-life religious leaders are urging the Democratic Party to stop demanding taxpayer-funded abortions and instead support policies that protect women and children, born and unborn.
The open letter on Friday, led by Democrats for Life, was signed by Democrat and independent religious leaders, professors and community leaders, including a former member of President Barack Obama’s faith-based advisory council and the president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
“We call upon you to recognize the inviolable human dignity of the child, before and after birth,” they wrote. “We urge you to reject a litmus test on pro-life people of faith seeking office in the Democratic Party.”
The leaders asked the Democratic Party Platform Committee to remove extreme abortion policies from the current platform when they release their new proposals this summer. The religious leaders noted how the current platform supports taxpayer-funded abortions, something 60% of voters oppose.
They also expressed concerns that the 2020 platform could be even more radically pro-abortion if it includes a commitment to codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law, which likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden supports.
“This letter demonstrates the strength of opposition to Joe Biden’s beliefs about abortion, especially from Democratic voters of color and religious voters,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life. “The Democratic Party should seek to include these voters, rather than pushing them into the arms of the Republican Party. An extreme approach to abortion is playing right into the hands of Donald Trump’s destructive agenda. We call on the Democratic Party to moderate its platform and show a real sign of openness to pro-life voters.”
Day said Biden should not take religious Democrat voters for granted.
“It’s hugely important for the campaign and Vice President Biden to understand the importance of this vote,” she said.
Voters have been leaving the Democratic Party because of its extreme stance on abortion. Most Americans, religious or not, disagree with its platform, which supports unrestricted abortions and demands that taxpayers pay for them.
A 2019 poll by Marist University found a startling, double-digit shift in the number of Democrats who identify as pro-life. The poll came right after Democrat political leaders defended infanticide and abortions up to birth.
Polls show strong opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions as well. A 2016 Harvard University poll found that only 36% of likely voters support overturning the Hyde Amendment and forcing Americans to fund abortions. A 2019 poll by Marist University found similarly strong opposition.
Similar changes are happening overseas. Recently, pro-life lawmakers in Ireland and Northern Ireland also quit their political parties after party leaders supported the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
