Democratic Party Platform Would Continue to Back Unlimited Abortion (Surprise, surprise)

LifeNews.com ^ | July 21, 2004 | Steven Ertelt

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- At the Democratic Party's upcoming national convention, delegates will consider a revised party platform. If they approve the proposed version, the Democratic Party will continue its support for unlimited abortion.

"Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay," the proposed platform reads.

"We stand firmly against Republican efforts to undermine that right," the platform also says.

The paragraph-long comment about abortion would be a marked change from the wordy three-paragraph statement found in the 2000 version.

One key difference would be the removal of language acknowledging that a significant group of pro-life Democrats dissents from the party's pro-abortion view.

"The Democratic Party is a party of inclusion. We respect the individual conscience of each American on this difficult issue, and we welcome all our members to participate at every level of our party," the 2000 platform read.

That statement and a long paragraph respecting the right of Democrats to disagree on abortion is stricken from the 2004 platform proposal.

That explains why members of Democrats for Life of America plan a rally outside the Boston convention.

"We are dedicated Democrats who are tired of standing outside the big tent," DFLA executive director Kristen Day said.

"The current Democratic platform supporting abortion on demand, an unrestricted 'right to chose,' is going to be our party's 'right to lose,'" Day said. "If we loyal Democrats don't want four more years of Bush, we've got to care enough to stay in our party and change its extreme and fatal abortion position so we can win again."

Members of the pro-life Democratic group will sport buttons with the phrase "43 percent of Democrats can't be wrong."

That's a reference to a January 2004 Zogby poll that found 43 percent of respondents who call themselves Democrats take a pro-life position opposing most or all abortions.

Instead of specific language discussing a disagreement on abortion, the platform contains a generic section regarding policy differences on political issues.

"Members of our party have deeply held and differing views on some matters of conscience and faith," the 2004 party platform proposal reads. "We view diversity of views as a source of strength, and we welcome into our ranks all Americans who seek to build a stronger America."

However, the Democratic National Committee web site still contains no link to the Democrats for Life organization, despite repeated requests and a meeting with party leaders.

Meanwhile, the 2000 GOP platform calls for a human life amendment protecting the lives of unborn children and says, "[t]he unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."

The Platform also calls for extension of Fourteenth Amendment protection to unborn children, supports the appointment of judges who respect the sanctity of human life, and opposes the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or for organizations that advocate it.

Surprisingly, the proposed Democratic Party platform also removes language from the 2000 version applauding the slight reduction in abortions in the U.S. over the last few years.

"The abortion rate is dropping," the old platform read. "Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare."

That goal has apparently changed.

Related web sites:
Democrats for Life of America - http://www.democratsforlife.org
The Democratic Party on Abortion, Then and Now: Comparing the Platforms -
http://www.LifeNews.com/nat660b.html

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Here is the 2000/2004 platform comparison linked above. The abortion plank is shorter this time, yet more radical (does not explicitly acknowledge the existence of dissent in the party on this issue).

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The Democratic Party on Abortion, Then and Now: Comparing the Platforms

2004 Proposed Democratic Party Platform on Abortion:
http://a9.g.akamai.net/7/9/8082/v001/www.democrats.org/pdfs/2004platform.pdf

Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. We stand firmly against Republican efforts to undermine that right. At the same time, we strongly support family planning and adoption incentives. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.

2000 Democratic Party Platform on Abortion:
http://www.democrats.org/about/2000platform.html

The Democratic Party stands behind the right of every woman to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of ability to pay. We believe it is a fundamental constitutional liberty that individual Americans - not government - can best take responsibility for making the most difficult and intensely personal decisions regarding reproduction. This year's Supreme Court rulings show to us all that eliminating a woman's right to choose is only one justice away. That's why the stakes in this election are as high as ever.

Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare, not more difficult and more dangerous. We support contraceptive research, family planning, comprehensive family life education, and policies that support healthy childbearing. The abortion rate is dropping. Now we must continue to support efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies, and we call on all Americans to take personal responsibility to meet this important goal.

The Democratic Party is a party of inclusion. We respect the individual conscience of each American on this difficult issue, and we welcome all our members to participate at every level of our party. This is why we are proud to put into our platform the very words which Republicans refused to let Bob Dole put into their 1996 platform and which they refused to even consider putting in their platform in 2000: "While the party remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing its historic principles and ideals, we also recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing views on issues of personal conscience like abortion and capital punishment. We view this diversity of views as a source of strength, not as a sign of weakness, and we welcome into our ranks all Americans who may hold differing positions on these and other issues. Recognizing that tolerance is a virtue, we are committed to resolving our differences in a spirit of civility, hope and mutual respect."

[Always Right]

An interesting note, the Democratic platform recognizes the 2nd Amendment as an individual right. They still want lots of restrictions, but it is interesting that the gun grabbers are losing their clout in the Democratic Party.

[wideawake]

The religion of the Democratic Party leadership is the Culture of Death.

They are willing to pretend that they support fiscal responsibility, or lower taxes, or the war on terror - almost anything is negotiable.

But they will not back down on murdering kids. The party's stance has continued to harden on the issue.

As John Kerry himself has said, although he believes that life begins at conception abortion must still be preserved as a "right."

They know exactly what they are doing. They are no longer calling evil good.

They are simply saying: we choose evil because we like evil.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Welcome to FR!

[Calico Cat]

So...the Amish are now allowed to use computers?

And I suppose that you farming Amish are very tolerant of mice and crows. Either that or you're very fond of vermin stew!

Weirdo.

[Calico Cat]

Recipe: take 1 box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. Bowl some water. Dump in the macaroni. Boil till done. Drain. Add the little sack of cheese, some butter and milk, and mix it up. Eat it. Put your dish in the dishwasher.

Mmmm, good! You may add some fileted groundhog, if you wish--good enough for company.

[Campion]

regardless of her ability to pay

That's Democratese for taxpayer funding of abortion.

What's interesting to me is that Kerry claims he opposes abortion, but can't force his Catholic opinions on pro-abort Americans not of his faith. So how is it that his party's platform calls for the Federal government to force pro-life Americans to pay for abortions? It's an imposition of religion to legislate against abortion, but not to force people who object to it to pay for it?

[TBarnett34]

Awww, did I miss another ZOT?

[monkeyman81]

That's good news, I guess, in a small measure.
Dean actually wasn't too bad on RKBA if I am not mistaken (certainly better than Kerry.) Vermont is a pretty good state in that regard, IIRC (it has pretty good CCW laws and a lot of hunters.)