The Democrats’ abortion purity test
Last week, a major fracture reappeared in the Democratic Party’s abortion politics.
Tom Perez, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, warned Democratic politicians that if they want the support of the DNC, being pro-abortion is “not negotiable.”
The controversial statement came just a day after Perez signaled that the Party may be open to pro-life Democrats. Following Perez’s initial statement, NARAL Pro-Choice America appears to have hounded him and the DNC back into submission, calling any efforts to embrace and support a pro-life candidate “politically stupid.”
But what could be a worse political strategy than kicking an estimated 21 million pro-life Democrats out of your party? Calls for repealing the Hyde Amendment and support for late-term abortion didn’t exactly pan out well for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party in November.
Though frightfully pro-abortion themselves, out of sheer practicality, even Sen. Bernie Sanders and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi aren’t on board with the DNC’s abortion purity test. There’s clearly a strategic split among Democrats that the powers-that-be want to get under control.
Ohio Right to Life has been blessed to work with a handful of pro-life Democratic leaders–leaders who honor the dignity of human life and who buck their Party to take a stand for it. That’s true heroism.
While the Democratic Party’s pro-abortion extremism and intolerance escalate, so does its transparency. Now all of America can see how radically out of touch the Party is with its own constituency. Gone are the days of “safe, legal, and rare,” when their abortion advocacy was folded into carefully crafted doublespeak.
Now it’s out in the open. And it’s our job to make sure pro-life voters know it.