Pro-life Democrats strike out

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

Pro-life Democrats tried to persuade Joe Biden and the leadership of the Democratic Party to soften their language on abortion rights. But the 2020 Democratic Party Platform that passed on August 19 shows they lost. Indeed, they lost on every recommendation they made. 

On May 12, Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America (DFLA), wrote a letter to the members of the Platform Committee. She made four recommendations, three of which were specific.

 

• "Remove the language opposing the Hyde Amendment and Helms Amendment." These amendments bar taxpayer-funded abortions.
• "Insert the following language committing to making abortion rare." The paragraph begins by saying, "As Democrats, we support efforts to make abortions rare." It then goes on to make the case for adoption.
• "Insert the following language on the diversity of opinion on abortion." This calls on the Platform to "respect the conscience of each American" on issues such as abortion. 

The DFLA lost on all three. The Platform calls for "the repeal of the Hyde Amendment," as well as the codification of "the right to reproductive freedom." Furthermore, the Platform says nothing about making abortions "rare." As for conscience rights, they are nowhere mentioned. 

The DFLA must have known that Biden would never commit to making abortions "rare." This explains why its second letter to the Platform Committee, issued three months later on August 14, only included reference to the first and third recommendations listed above. It was signed by more than 100 Democratic politicians. 

There was a time, not too long ago, when Biden would have had no problem accepting all three recommendations. Indeed, he was never an extremist on abortion, until recently. Now he is: There is no abortion, at any time of pregnancy, or for any reason, that he finds objectionable. 

In 1992, Bill Clinton made sure that the 1992 Democratic Party Platform included language saying abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare." In 2008, Hillary Clinton, in the presidential primary, went so far as to say abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare, and by rare, I mean rare." 

This shows how extreme Biden has become. He does not want abortion to be rare, because if he did he would have adopted the language of the DFLA. That commits him to the most promiscuous exercise of abortion imaginable. What has happened to this professed Catholic? 

The country has become more pro-life, yet Biden has become more pro-abortion. This makes no sense politically, never mind morally. But it's too late to change now. Biden has laid anchor with NARAL, the most rabid defender of abortion in the nation. In fact, they recently endorsed him. 

Joe Biden and his Democratic Party Platform just shut the door tight on pro-life Democrats. Looks like the big tent has a hole in it after all.