AMAC Exclusive – By Seamus Brennan
As Republicans continue to improve their odds in midterm polling and Democrats look for any issue that could help them keep control of Congress this November, the left appears to be centering their closing argument around one issue, and one issue only: abortion.
Clearly hopeful that the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization can distract from inflation, crime, the border crisis, and any number of other Democrat-induced disasters, the left has elevated abortion to essentially its sole policy concern in the final weeks of the midterm campaign.
But by going out of their way to label pro-lifers as dangerous extremists, misleading voters about the actual implications of the Dobbs decision, and lying about their own stances on abortion, Democrats are revealing themselves to be out-of-touch radicals. There are early indications that Democrats’ eleventh-hour pro-abortion ad blitz to keep control of Congress could be backfiring.
Despite their best efforts to smear pro-life Americans as “extremists,” the reality is that most elected Democrats and Democrat officials have far more radical beliefs on abortion than the majority of the American electorate. A striking number of Democrat officials believe in virtually no limits for abortion, and have even opposed protections for babies born alive as the result of failed abortions, whereas a majority of Americans believe there should be at least some limits on the practice.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, for instance—a self-professed Catholic—refused to condemn partial-birth abortion based on sex or disability. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has stated he believes in no limits for abortion—a view that is echoed by the likes of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). President Joe Biden himself has failed to offer support for any limits on abortion—even though he has repeatedly acknowledged that abortion kills an unborn child. In states like Virginia, Democrat lawmakers attempted to pass a law that explicitly allowed for elective abortions up until the moment of birth.
The left’s abortion extremism extends to many candidates on the ballot this fall—including in key swing races. Endangered Arizona Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), for instance, insisted he could not be the “arbiter of an age” at which a child could seek an abortion without parental consent, hinting that he would support legislation which would allow minors to undergo risky and life-altering abortion procedures without even informing the child’s parents.
Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA)—another vulnerable incumbent and self-proclaimed Christian pastor—refused to say whether he supports any legal limits on abortion. Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), who is seeking reelection in swing state Nevada this fall, tweeted that she was “proud” to oppose a legislative measure that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks (at which stage the unborn child has a beating heart, fully formed fingerprints, and a set of permanent teeth). Congresswoman Val Demings (D-FL), who is currently running for the U.S. Senate against Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), stated that abortion is a woman’s “destiny.”
But some Democrats have taken their anti-life extremism even further. Just this month, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams claimed—against all scientific evidence and testimony from well-respected biologists, physicians, and scientific institutions—that “there is no such thing as a heartbeat” at six weeks of pregnancy. Instead, she went on, the sound of a heartbeat is “manufactured” to convince people that “men have the right to take control of a woman’s body”—a comment that has provoked widespread pushback.
Given the gusto with which most Democrats are supporting abortion-on-demand in the weeks leading up to Election Day, one might be inclined to think that the bulk of the American people share their extreme views. But the numbers tell a different story. In fact, the vast majority of Americans—including a whopping 66 percent of Americans who identify as pro-choice—oppose abortion in the third trimester of pregnancy. This finding raises the question: do Democrats really think they can openly campaign on an extreme view that two thirds of their own voting base openly rejects, free from any consequence at the ballot box?
Democrats have also misconstrued what the Dobbs decision means for access to abortion. According to the testimony of many Democrats, Dobbs effectively outlawed abortion all across the board in all 50 states. In reality, however, Dobbs merely returned the power to legislate on abortion to the states—and by extension the voters. In most states where abortion was already legal, it will remain legal. This reality perhaps helps to explain why just four percent of the electorate says abortion is the most important issue to them this fall, according to Gallup—more evidence that Democrats’ messaging simply isn’t hitting home.
Though the left may still be under the illusion that their no-holds-barred pro-abortion extremism is their political golden goose that will lead them to a surefire electoral victory this November, it is far more likely that their last-ditch midterm pitch could have the opposite effect.
After decades of reluctance to show their true colors on abortion during competitive election cycles, the American people can now see for themselves the complete disregard for innocent human life that defines the Democrat Party’s stance on the issue.