Led by Sunday School teacher and former President Jimmy Carter, pro-life Democrats are pressing President Obama and the Democratic National Committee to abandon support for taxpayer-funded abortions in the party platform.
Democrats for Life of America, touting new comments from Carter condemning abortion, tell Secrets that they are circulating a petition calling for a broader look at the life issue that they claim will lure in Democrats opposed to the party’s ardent pro-choice stance by using “neutral language” in the platform.
“The Democratic platform currently contains language to allow taxpayer funding of abortion. National polls have consistently demonstrated that most Americans do not support the government paying for abortion,” said the group.
The president and Democrats, however, show no signs of watering down the pro-choice language that backs taxpayer funding for abortions.
Carter got the ball rolling when he recently told radio talk show host Laura Ingraham: “I’ve signed a public letter calling for the Democratic Party at the next convention to espouse my position on abortion, which is to minimize the need for abortion and limit it only to women whose lives are in danger or who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest. I think if the Democratic Party would adopt that policy that would be acceptable to a lot of people who are now estranged from our party because of the abortion issue.”
Democrats for Life have responded with a petition that offers up new language on the abortion issue that instead focuses on efforts to reduce abortion.
That language reads:
“We believe that we can reduce the number of abortions because we are united in our support for policies that assist families who find themselves in crisis or unplanned pregnancies. We believe that women deserve to have a breadth of options available as they face pregnancy: including, among others, support and resources needed to handle the challenges of pregnancy, adoption, and parenthood; access to education, healthcare, childcare; and appropriate child support. We envision a new day without financial or societal barriers to bringing a planned or unplanned pregnancy to term.”
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life or America, explained that changing the Democratic position could bolster support for the party, though others suggest it would enrage liberals. “Expanding our big tent policy with more neutral language on abortion will bring estranged Democrats back and allow pro-choice and pro-life Democrats to work together for common-sense policies,” Day said.
