{"id":22408,"date":"2022-05-12T13:52:18","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T20:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=22408"},"modified":"2022-05-12T13:54:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T20:54:08","slug":"pelosi-democratic-candidates-should-not-be-forced-to-toe-party-line-on-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/05\/12\/pelosi-democratic-candidates-should-not-be-forced-to-toe-party-line-on-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelosi in 2017: Democratic candidates should not be forced to toe party line on abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/06953c0c-2f77-11e7-a335-fa0ae1940305\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Calif.) said abortion is not as large an issue for Democratic candidates running for office as it was in the past. (Video: Jayne Orenstein\/Photo: Oliver Contreras\/For The Washington Post\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/people\/karen-tumulty\/\">Karen Tumulty<\/a> May 2, 2017 (WashingtonPost.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Democratic Party should not impose support for abortion rights as a litmus test on its candidates, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday, because it needs a broad and inclusive agenda to win back the socially conservative voters who helped elect President Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the Democratic Party. This is not a rubber-stamp party,\u201d Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI grew up Nancy D\u2019Alesandro, in Baltimore, Maryland; in Little Italy; in a very devout Catholic family; fiercely patriotic; proud of our town and heritage, and staunchly Democratic,\u201d she added, referring to the fact that she is the daughter and sister of former mayors of that city. \u201cMost of those people \u2014 my family, extended family \u2014 are not pro-choice. You think I\u2019m kicking them out of the Democratic Party?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those comments from one of the Democrats\u2019 most powerful and high-profile women come at a moment of opportunity and struggle within the party. It has been shut out of power in Washington, controlling neither house of Congress nor the White House, and its ranks have been decimated at the state and local level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given Trump\u2019s unpopularity and the recent stumbles that Republicans have made in Congress, Democrats have great hopes of making significant gains in the 2018 midterm elections. But the opposition party is also gripped by an internecine battle for its own identity, moving leftward with calls for ideological purity by portions of its activist liberal base while also trying to reach out to the rural, working-class Americans who turned against Democrats last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/rf\/image_480w\/2010-2019\/WashingtonPost\/2017\/05\/02\/National-Politics\/Images\/IMG_0492.JPG?uuid=Q5XIxi9_EeejNfoK4ZQDBQ\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) listens to reporters Tuesday in her office on Capitol Hill. (Oliver Contreras\/For The Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Abortion has become a flash point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newly installed Democratic National Committee Chairman Thomas Perez and former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) came under criticism by abortion rights advocates during their \u201cunity tour\u201d last month, when they appeared together at a rally for an Omaha mayoral candidate who has sponsored legislature bills to restrict abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perez responded with a statement declaring that support for abortion rights is \u201cnonnegotiable\u201d for Democrats, and that they should speak with \u201cone voice\u201d on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time, Pelosi bristled at the party chairman\u2019s comments, saying on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on April 23 that \u201cof course\u201d it is possible for an abortion opponent to be a member of the Democratic Party. She added that she has served for many years in Congress with colleagues of her party who do not share her own liberal views on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Tuesday, she went further, arguing that the Democrats cannot afford to enforce an ideological test on the abortion issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn our caucus, one thing unifies us: our values about working families,\u201d Pelosi said. \u201cSome people are more or less enthusiastic about this issue or that issue or that issue. They\u2019ll go along with the program, but their enthusiasm is about America\u2019s working families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also suggested that the party\u2019s presumed rigidity on social issues is one reason that Democrats were unable to appeal to segments of the electorate that might otherwise have been in tune with their broader agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou know what? That\u2019s why Donald Trump is president of the United States \u2014 the evangelicals and the Catholics, anti-marriage equality, anti-choice. That\u2019s how he got to be president,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything was trumped, literally and figuratively by that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pelosi\u2019s comments drew a guarded rebuke from Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, a leading abortion rights advocacy organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEncouraging and supporting anti-choice candidates leads to bad policy outcomes that violate women\u2019s rights and endanger our economic security,\u201d Hogue said via email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The platform approved by Democrats at their national convention in Philadelphia last year \u201cwent further than the Party has ever gone to stand up for the women\u2019s rights. It didn\u2019t just seek to protect abortion access \u2014 it sought to expand it,\u201d Hogue said. \u201cIf the Democratic Party is going to gain back power, it can\u2019t go backward, it can\u2019t back down and it can\u2019t trade away these principles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Polling indicates that a significant portion of people who consider themselves Democrats do indeed have misgivings about abortion, which has been legal nationally since the Supreme Court\u2019s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surveys by the Pew Research Center have generally found that about 3 in 10 Democrats say that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pelosi expressed doubt whether any hard-line antiabortion candidate could win a Democratic presidential primary. She also noted that the debate over abortion no longer boils down to whether a candidate is for or against the basic right to the procedure, but rather over whether and what types of limits should be imposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, \u201cwithin the Democrats, I don\u2019t think that you\u2019ll see too many candidates going out there and saying, \u2018I\u2019m running as a pro-life candidate,\u2019\u2009\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s how far are you willing to go on the issue \u2014 but let\u2019s not spend too much time\u201d on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of fading as an issue,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pelosi pointed to Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) as a case study in how the Democrats tolerate diverse views. Casey describes himself as personally opposed to abortion, but he has also fought alongside other Democrats against efforts to withdraw federal funds from Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBob Casey \u2014 you know Bob Casey \u2014 would you like him not to be in our party?\u201d Pelosi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That name has particular resonance within the party. Casey\u2019s late father, Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey, was denied a speaking spot at the 1992 Democratic National Convention when he asked to present a minority report opposing the party\u2019s platform plank on abortion, which declared \u201creproductive choice\u201d as a \u201cfundamental right\u201d that should receive government financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the wide-ranging interview, Pelosi expressed satisfaction at the fact that Republicans in Congress have thus far failed to overturn the health-care law that was the signature domestic legacy of the Obama administration \u2014 and one of her own greatest legislative accomplishments when she was House speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pelosi was able to win passage only after adding assurances that the new law would not use government funds for abortion. She also recalled: \u201cLook, we worked with the nuns. The nuns helped us pass the Affordable Care Act. The nuns. The Catholic nuns \u2014 thank God for the Catholic nuns. The Catholic hospitals are speaking out against\u201d the current GOP legislation to overturn the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDo we subject them to a test and say, \u2018Before you speak out on this bill, we want to know where you are on this, that and the other thing?\u2019\u2009\u201d Pelosi said. \u201cNo. No.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Weigel contributed to this report.<strong><\/strong>&nbsp;Comments<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/people\/karen-tumulty\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/arc-authors\/washpost\/d1ac8e14-0e45-46be-988e-a4abe3a7b96e.jpg&amp;w=60&amp;h=60\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/people\/karen-tumulty\/\">Karen Tumulty<\/a>Karen Tumulty is a Washington Post columnist covering national politics. She joined The Post in 2010 from Time magazine and has also worked at the Los Angeles Times.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ktumulty\">Follow&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Calif.) said abortion is not as large an issue for Democratic candidates running for office as it was in the past. (Video: Jayne Orenstein\/Photo: Oliver Contreras\/For The Washington Post\/The Washington Post) By&nbsp;Karen Tumulty May 2, 2017 (WashingtonPost.com) The Democratic Party should not impose support for abortion&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/05\/12\/pelosi-democratic-candidates-should-not-be-forced-to-toe-party-line-on-abortion\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22408"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22411,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408\/revisions\/22411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}