100 Christian pastors, pro-life advocates urge Democrats to end 'abortion extremism' in party platform
More than 100 Christian pastors and pro-life academics and advocates have called on the Democratic National Committee “to recognize the inviolable human dignity of the child, before and after birth,” and adopt a party platform that’s friendlier to those who are pro-life.
“Some of us are registered Democrats and some of us are not, but we appreciate the Democratic Party’s stated commitment to human rights, equality, and fairness,” they wrote in a letter to the Democratic Platform Committee, organized by the pro-life group Democrats for Life.
“Accordingly, we urge the Democratic Party to embrace policies that protect both women and children: legal protection for pre-born children, improved prenatal care for women in need, especially women of color, alternatives to abortion, and a comprehensive culture of life free from violence, poverty and racism,” the letter adds.
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The letter notes that the U.S. “is just one of seven countries, alongside North Korea, to allow the horrific practice of elective late-term abortion after 20 weeks.”
The signatories urged the Democratic Platform Committee “to reject a litmus test on pro-life people of faith seeking office in the Democratic Party. Crucially, we urge you to end the explicit support in your platform for abortion extremism, such as taxpayer-funded abortion in America and overseas, opposed by 60% and 76% of voters.”
Last year, Joe Biden, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, reversed his decades-long support for restricting federal funding of abortions, according to The Associated Press, which quoted him as saying at the time, “Just as I’ve never attempted to impose my views on anyone else as to when life begins, I have never attempted to impose my view on who should pay for it.”
Steven Krueger, president of the nonprofit Catholic Democrats, warned at the time that “the far left wing of the party has had influence on a number of issues, particularly on the issue of abortion, that is not going to serve candidates well once they’re in the general election.”
“And the problem is, it’s very difficult to kind of tack back to the middle once you take a stand on something as black and white as whether or not you want to repeal” the restrictions on federal abortion funding, he added.
In February, activists from Democrats for Life held a press conference in Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of the state’s primary to voice their disgust with the Democratic candidates’ stances on abortion as nearly all of them opposed bans on late-term abortion and safety regulations on the abortion industry.
Democrats for Life Executive Director Kristen Day said at the time that in her 18-year career, she had not seen such extremism in the Democratic Party on abortion. Since 2010, she warned, Democrats had lost their political advantages in southern states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana that had all flipped from blue to red.
The Democratic Party, she added, had moved away from “safe, legal and rare” abortion to supporting abortion up to nine months for any reason.
