In our brave new world, it’s too pro-life to even call abortion “a tragedy.”
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang learned that the hard way over the weekend, when, after suggesting as much during a forum in New Hampshire, he was told by a smattering of progressive activists online to drop out of the race.
While Yang made it abundantly clear he is in favor of abortion access and sees no role for the government in restricting the procedure at any stage, he did acknowledge that it’s not something to celebrate, because it is tragic.
“There is a really important tone to set on this, where you don’t just say, like, we’re absolutist about it, though I have to say I am relatively absolutist about it on this,” he said Saturday. “Like I think that it should be completely up to the woman and her doctor and the state should not be intervening all the way through pregnancy. But it’s a tragedy to me if someone decides they don’t want to have a child and they’re on the fence and then maybe at some point later; it’s a very difficult personal decision and it’s something that we should be very, very sensitive to.”
He went on to say it’s important to “celebrate” children and family while also defending a woman’s access to abortion.
That, though, did not fly with his fellow progressives, who accused him of “shaming” women and “demonizing” abortion with his “dangerous” rhetoric. Some even demanded he drop out of the running.
Apparently, the author of that last tweet, Jeff Yang (no known relation), has had his head buried in the sand. Where was he in 2016, when, during the Democratic National Convention, one of the event’s speakers, National Abortion Rights Action League President Ilyse Hogue celebrated just how great abortion is. Or in 2015, when the #ShoutYourAbortion campaign took over social media?
People very much do celebrate abortion. And many on the left are becoming increasingly opposed to diversity within their own ranks.
In addition to Yang’s comments, fellow Democratic contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg have taken hard-line stances against restricting abortion access in any way.
At the same event, Sanders said it is “absolutely essential” for Democrats to support abortion access. And during a presidential primary debate Friday, Warren and Biden said they’d support legislation to codify access to abortion nationwide, should the Supreme Court overturn its 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade. For his part, Buttigieg refused to draw any sort of line on abortion, including partial-birth abortions, during an exchange with co-host Meghan McCain on ABC’s “The View.”
Pro-life Democrat Jacob Lupfer told Faithwire last spring that the Democratic Party needs to soften its opposition to abortion because it has “become extreme.”
Democrats, he said, “should have a better message to pro-life Democrats than, ‘Sit down and shut up,’ which is all they’ve been saying for my whole life.’”