Was I reading The Washington Post or The Onion? This week, DC’s leading newspaper wrote about Republican and Democratic positions on abortion in the context of describing one voter’s choice between voting for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. That voter, New Jersey mother Gia Capriotti, does not like President Trump personally but finds former Vice President Joe Biden’s position on abortion to be simply untenable.
Capriotti shares, “What Biden and Harris stand for — that’s horrifying. A woman seven months pregnant — that baby is experiencing pain and being ripped limb from limb. That’s torture.” She’s right.
Studies have repeatedly shown that not only are children capable of feeling pain from late-term abortions but that these elective abortions of viable children are nearly 100 times more likely to result in their mothers’ death than a first-trimester abortion.
Incredibly, The Washington Post “fact checks” Capriotti and blatantly misleads readers about the Democratic Party’s platform on abortion. The Post article says: “The policies Democrats support generally limit abortions to the first 20 to 24 weeks of gestation. Most abortions are performed at eight weeks or earlier. Experts have told The Washington Post that abortions up to the moment of birth, what could be described as infanticide, are not happening in the United States.”
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Seriously? Have the so-called fact-checkers at The Washington Post not read the Democratic Party platform? Were they on vacation when exactly zero Democratic senators voted to protect pain-capable children? Have they not been paying attention to the laws in states like Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, and Virginia?
The Democratic governor of Virginia — a man considered a moderate in his party — proved on live radio that the Post’s description is inaccurate. When asked what should happen when a child is born alive in the course of an abortion, Gov. Ralph Northam stated, “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
A born, living human being—with no human rights. That is the position of the Democratic Party. The Democratic platform calls for worldwide, unlimited, taxpayer-funded elective abortion on demand. Not only that, but the Democratic establishment also promises a litmus test for federal judges who will rule without fail for elective abortion on demand, no matter what the law or facts provide. The Democratic establishment is a hotbed of abortion extremism the likes of which we have never before seen on a national scale.
Even with all of these inaccuracies, The Washington Post got the underlying story right! The Democratic Party is as radical as we have ever seen on the issue of abortion, but the policies that average Democrats support generally do holistically protect life and limit abortions. Polling and social research consistently show that approximately one-third of registered Democrats oppose killing the most vulnerable among us and consider themselves to be pro-life. That’s more than 20 million Democrats!
We at Americans United for Life commissioned an independent poll that found that self-described pro-choice Americans overwhelmingly oppose late-term abortions. They say, “If that’s what pro-choice is, I want no part of it.”
The sorry reality is that the Democratic Party simply doesn’t listen to its own voters. It’s a shame that party leaders are putting the demands of abortion industry lobbyists before the core convictions of their base.
The Democratic Party asserts, “We are fighting for a better, fairer, and brighter future for every American.” Except for those defenseless children soon to be born, the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities. Except for those women who don’t get to see their ultrasounds because laws protecting their fundamental right to their own health-care information—to basic informed consent—have been blocked by Democrats. Except for those women who suffer botched abortions and find themselves abandoned at the abortion facility’s doors in need of life-saving care because Democrats wiped out an emergency transfer law ensuring continuity of care.
The outlook of the average Democratic voter remains generally pro-life, but the Democratic Party bosses and many politicians (with some refreshing exceptions) are pro-abortion through and through. We cannot change this by avoiding hard conversations. The only way to overcome the injustice of abortion is by continuing to speak up and speak out in public life.
While Biden appears intent on closing the big tent and leading his party towards a dystopian future through a fundamentally warped view of the human right to life, it does make me hopeful about what a truly life-affirming president could soon do.
For example, I was inspired by Dr. Chad Pecknold’s recent public call for the president to implement what he terms the “Lincoln Proposal,” wherein the president would use the U.S. Constitution’s Article II power to provide protection under the law for children in the womb through executive interpretation of the 14th Amendment. This is an ambitious and courageous proposal that would echo the strategy President Lincoln used to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s horrendous and shameful 1857 Dred Scott decision.
A brave president might use the same executive power to confront and diminish the barbarity of the lawful violence, mass killing, and self-harm perpetuated by the abortion industry and their political enablers.
