Both Democrats and Republicans are warning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that her party has a big chance of losing in 2022 if she persists in trying to force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
Sean Salai, a writer at InsideSources, pointed out that Pelosi and other Democrat lawmakers are on “the wrong side of national polling” on the issue, and it may hurt their chances of keeping control of the U.S. House in the midterm election.
For decades, most Republican and Democrat lawmakers supported the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for elective abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs. However, Democrats recently abandoned the public on the issue and sided with the billion-dollar abortion industry.
President Joe Biden’s proposed 2022 budget specifically excludes the pro-life measure, and the U.S. House voted July 29 to pass a federal spending bill without the Hyde Amendment for the first time in more than 40 years.
Polls consistently show strong public support for the Hyde Amendment, which has saved about 2.5 million babies’ lives, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
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Ramesh Ponnuru, editor of National Review, said Democrat lawmakers’ newfound support for taxpayer-funded abortions may not go over well with voters, according to InsideSources.
“Taxpayer funding is an element of the abortion debate that puts the Democrats on the wrong side of public opinion,” he said. “Support for it makes it harder, as well, for Democratic candidates to signal that they understand and respect voters’ ambivalence about abortion.”
James Carville, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, disagreed, arguing that it will not significantly sway voters because most already have abortion opinions that are “baked into the cake,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, Timothy P. Carney, of the American Enterprise Institute, predicted that Democrat lawmakers will avoid the issue as much as possible – as Biden has done so as not to draw attention to their unpopular position.
To court their party, Carney said, “Democrats cannot afford to do anything but take the most extreme positions on abortion.” However, “this leaves the party way out of touch with the public on issues like late-term abortion and taxpayer funding of abortion. Hopefully, that will catch up with them at the ballot box,” he continued, according to the report.
Joshua Mercer, co-founder of CatholicVote, said conservative groups will make taxpayer-funded abortions a big issue in 2022 if Democrat leaders keep insisting on such radical measures.
“If Democrats begin forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions, it will become a big issue in the 2022 elections—and put their majorities in trouble,” Mercer told InsideSources.
Some Democrats also have been warning the party against its extreme, pro-abortion course.
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, recently criticized U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, for flip-flopping on the issue after promising to be pro-life.
“His votes will assist Republicans to win more seats in the mid-terms since a majority of Americans oppose his radical positions on abortion,” Day said.
A few years ago, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a pro-life Democrat from West Virginia, called Democrat leaders “crazy” for adding taxpayer-funded abortions to the new party platform, noting that it will turn away voters.
“That’s crazy,” Manchin said. “It’s something that I know most Democrats in West Virginia and most West Virginians would not agree with. I don’t either.”
Polls consistently find strong public opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions. A January Marist poll found 58 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S. Additionally, 77 percent oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in other countries. A 2016 Harvard/Politico poll found similarly strong public opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions, especially among low-income Americans.
