A wholly unremarkable thing occurred during the first GOP primary debate: Many of the candidates spoke out against late-term abortions. Then something happened that was quite remarkable indeed. A couple of Democrats came out on X to refute the claim that any of them support abortions up to the point of birth. But this new lie from the left is both demonstrably false and a 180 degree turn from the more common progressive position. Leftists have long defended on-demand abortion up to the point of birth, and they did so loudly and unapologetically. So why deny it now?
“What the Democrats are trying to do on this issue is wrong, to allow abortion all the way up to the moment of birth,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at the debate. He wasn’t alone. Nikki Haley asked: “Can’t we all agree that we should ban late-term abortions?” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Mike Pence, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson all chimed in with their own version of the same point.
Shortly after, former Democrat Sen. Al Franken chimed in on X: “No one is trying to allow abortions right up to birth.” He followed that up with a bit of indecision over whether DeSantis is a jerk or an a-hole (only the uncensored version of the word). “No one supports abortion up until birth,” former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also posted, just one minute after Franken’s message.
Short and to the point, with no room for misinterpretation, the denial was also unequivocally false.
No One Supports Abortion Up Until Birth – Except for All the Leftists Who Do
In 2019, Virginia House Delegate Kathy Tran (D) defended her bill, the REPEAL Act, which would have removed the prohibition against abortion beyond a certain point. As Liberty Nation reported at the time, it would even have removed the requirements that “such procedures take place in a real hospital or be conducted by actual doctors.” During a committee hearing on the proposed bill, she was asked: “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, she has physical signs that she is about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified?” Her response: “My bill would allow that, yes.”
When asked in an interview whether a pregnant woman has the right to abort even eight months into pregnancy, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “Again, I’ve told you I believe a woman’s right to choose, period.” Much more recently, the current mayor, Eric Adams, told reporters that he doesn’t support any limits on abortion, even up to the day of birth. Jen Psaki herself – contrary to her more recent remarks – has spoken up for unlimited abortion access even up to the point of birth, giving her support to the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have permitted abortions for any reason up to the point of birth – and forced taxpayers to fund them, no less. And again, she wasn’t alone. As Townhall contributor John Hasson pointed out in a reply to Psaki’s “no one” tweet, “46 Democrat Senators voted for it on Feb. 28, 2022.
Late Term Abortions: The Law of the Land
As for state (and district) law, there are absolutely no deadlines after which it is too late for an elective abortion in Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. While abortions beyond the 21st week are rare, making up just over 1% of total terminations in the nation, they’re still allowed in these places – and when the total number of abortions in any given year is as high as more than 600,000 (CDC) or even 900,000 (Guttmacher), 1% is still a lot of lives lost. Note this isn’t necessarily an emergency abortion to save the life of a mother or to address a fatal fetal anomaly – those are built into the abortion laws of even the most restrictive states in the US. This is the unlimited legal right to choose to abort at any point before the baby is born for any reason. How frequently it does or doesn’t happen doesn’t change whether it’s allowed or whether at least a good portion of the Democrats in Congress have supported such legislation.
Taking it a step farther, the left has opposed attempts to safeguard infants born alive during abortion attempts. “American women deserve to have their right to healthcare protected, not undermined,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement regarding the 2022 Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act after it cleared the House. The New York Democrat's stance on this is odd, given that the bill was focused on protecting abortion survivors after the attempted termination, not stopping mothers from having abortions to begin with.
Jen Psaki (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Other Democrats argued that no new law is required. Late-term abortions are rare; survivors who are born alive are rarer still. Even then, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 already requires any infant born alive to be given medical care. But how unnecessary is the law, really, if Democrats are pushing to remove that obligation? Minnesota’s failed H.F. 91, for example, would have removed the born alive protection in the state.
Democrats have long been the party of “Abortion on demand and without apology!” to quote the common pro-choice slogan. That Al Franken, Jen Psaki, and the progressive both in the X comments and the establishment media that back them up would lie for political gain is likely no surprise to many. But that they would do so by disowning one of their highest ideals boggles the mind.
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