Why the pro-life movement needs Democrats

Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2015 / 06:30 am

Pro-life Democrat politicians are fast becoming an endangered political species, but their pro-life presence is necessary for the movement to succeed, both Republicans and Democrats agreed.

"I think if the pro-life movement becomes confined to just the Republican Party, it's going to hurt the movement," Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) told CNA at the 2015 March for Life. He added that if more pro-life Democrats get elected, "the Republican Party then can't take the pro-lifers more for granted."

The 2015 March for Life drew some 200,000 pro-lifers from all over the country. Young people showed up in droves with high school, college, and diocesan groups. Seminarians and members of religious orders were also well-represented.

Only one Democrat joined the three Republican members of Congress onstage at the official rally on the National Mall. Rep. Lipinski admitted that the past few years have been "tough" for pro-life Democrats but insisted that their presence is vital to the success of the pro-life movement.

The chair of the Republican National Committee also said that the pro-life issue is not just a Republican one.

"I think that a lot of people in this country without party labels agree that we need to be pro-life, and lives are worth saving," Reince Priebus told CNA at the 2015 March for Life.

"I'm here to support the March for Life because I think they do great work and it provides great awareness for the issue," he continued.

Janet Robert, the president of the board of Democrats for Life, told CNA that the pro-life movement has to expand its coalition to get beyond the stereotype of conservative Christian pro-lifers.

"It is important that we rebuild the movement by focusing on every person, regardless of their faith, their creed, their nationality, and their other beliefs," Robert said. "Unite us so that we can get things done."

The right to life has to be seen as a "human right" and not just a religious issue, she added. The United Nations and NARAL, among other groups, have been calling abortion a "human right" and pro-lifers must counter that.

"We've got to stop that thinking, it's very destructive," she said.

Robert spoke for the brand-new Pro-Life Allies Coalition, a gathering of "non-traditional" pro-life groups such as Democrats and atheists, created to build bridges with those factions around the right to life as a fundamental "human right."

The coalition wishes for "people to understand that the pro-life movement is basically an anti-violence, pro-woman, anti-sexual abuse, pro-peace movement, which it really is," she said.

"Because it's fundamentally about protecting human life and about human rights. It is the most important human right, the right to life."