There is perhaps no issue more important to the Democratic Party than abortion. It has long been the sacred cow that cannot be touched, regulated, or even debated.
Yet it’s also an issue about which Democrats are too afraid to admit their true feelings.
Last week, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed in a tweet that “No one supports abortion up until birth.”
She elaborated on her MSNBC show, insisting, “This claim that Democrats support up until the moment of birth is entirely misleading. First of all, abortions past the point of fetal viability do not happen often. They’re incredibly rare. And those that do happen involve agonizing emotional and ethical decisions.”
The argument that Democrats are advocating for more late term abortions is completely misleading. I explain with lots of FACTS today… https://t.co/JFe4ARSF0V
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) August 27, 2023
If that were true, I’d be more than willing that concede this point and drop it. But it’s not true. If you’ve ever attempted to debate a leftist on abortion, the issue of late-term abortions is one they will often dance around if you ask them if they support it. Few, if any, will admit that they support abortion up until the moment of birth without hiding behind some evasive rhetoric about reproductive rights.
It’s true that late-term abortions are rare, but they do happen. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 89% of abortions are performed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, while a mere 1.3% are performed after 20 weeks. If these abortions are so rare, there is arguably little reason for Democrats not to support a ban on late-term abortions with some exceptions. But they won’t do it.
Related: Nancy Pelosi Sees Abortion as Key to Democrat Victory in 2024
The fact is, the Democratic Party supports zero limits on abortion, be it a gestational limit or parental consent laws in the case of pregnant minors. You can look at their 2020 party platform for proof of this. According to the left-wing Kaiser Family Foundation, seven states have zero restrictions on abortion.
In fact, Jen Psaki should know that Democrats support abortion up until the moment of birth. While she was White House Press Secretary, she noted that Joe Biden supported the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified abortion rights in federal law — including up until the moment of birth. The bill was so radical that the evenly split Senate voted 46-48 to block it.
But there are still plenty of Democrats who support it, even if they won’t directly admit to it.
Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign compiled five minutes of Democrats saying in a variety of ways that they support no limits on abortion, even in the third trimester, or even post-birth.
🤣🤣 @jrpsaki is still trying to fact check @RonDeSantis for pointing out that Democrats support abortion until birth.
Jen, it’s on tape.pic.twitter.com/5k1aZIlv4l https://t.co/qekpnv2wZ4
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 27, 2023
So, the question is, why is it that so many Democrats support abortion up until the moment of birth but are so cagey about it? Well, it’s because polls have consistently shown that while Americans generally believe abortion should be legal, there should be limits on it. In fact, support for abortion drops significantly each trimester.
“Six in 10 U.S. adults think abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy,” explains Gallup. “However, support drops by about half, to 28%, for abortions conducted in the second three months, and by half again, to 13%, in the final three months.” So, the mainstream position on abortion in the United States is that abortions should be restricted after 12 to 15 weeks gestation. When a Democrat says they support zero limits on abortion, they establish themselves as the radical fringe on the issue.
This means that Republicans can make abortion a winning issue for themselves with the right messaging. Democrats know this, so the media covers for them by claiming falsely that no one supports late-term abortions, when in fact, they do.
This is why it’s so important for Republicans to continually call out the left on their true opinions on the issue, and force them to confirm or deny their support for any restrictions on abortion.
