For decades, the Democratic party has supported the right to abortion in its very platform. One group, however, is trying to change that by placing a pro-life billboard advertisement in Philadelphia ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America, said in a Wednesday press release:
Noting the victory of pro-life Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in Louisiana, Day then said the party needed the pro-life vote in order to succeed in future races.
“Democrats can win elections through all the down ballot races if we unite into a more inclusive and open political coalition,” she noted. “As it is, the national party platform is closed to all Democrats who believe that we must find better solutions to the challenges mothers face than aborting their children. Support for mothers must be a priority, not an afterthought.”
Such efforts come at a precarious time for the pro-life movement. Normally making up a solid bloc of the GOP, Trump has nevertheless divided thegroup like no other presumed Republican nominee before him. The judicial stakes are of particular note: The Supreme Court overturnedTexas’s abortion restrictions on June 27, and no one has yet to replace the late Antonin Scalia, making pro-life voters worried about the upcoming national elections. It is not surprising, then, that the DFLA is trying to “Open the Big Tent” by asking for a pro-life conscience clause in the Democratic platform.
The odds are predictably long as the Democrats are slated to finalize the language in Orlando this weekend. As noted in the Washington Examiner, the current draft “vows to repeal the federal Hyde Amendment, which limits how federal dollars can be used for abortions, and…will seek to overturn state and federal laws that ‘impede a woman’s access to an abortion.'”
“We believe unequivocally that every woman should have access to quality reproductive healthcare services, including safe and legal abortion — regardless of where she lives, how much money she makes, or how she is insured,” the document declared. “We will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers, which provide critical health services to millions of people.”
