Mommy, What’s a Pro-Life Democrat?

November’s midterm elections may wipe out some of the anti-abortion movement’s key allies.

Tim Bower

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Pro-life Democrats come in two varieties: those who tout anti-abortion views on the stump, but largely end up voting with their pro-choice colleagues, and those—typically hailing from deep-red districts—who almost always vote pro-life. As abortion foes mobilize against “faux” pro-life Dems in November, you might think they were going to focus on the first group. But they’re really gunning for the second, traditionally the movement’s staunchest Democratic allies. We’re talking congressmen with ratings of 80 percent or higher from the National Right to Life Committee.

In May, abortion opponents claimed the scalp of the first member of this pro-life cadre—longtime Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.). The Susan B. Anthony List (a pro-life political action committee founded to counter the pro-choice powerhouse EMILY’s List) spent $78,000 to help defeat him in the primary, and has pledged to spend a total of $1 million to unseat other alleged traitors to the pro-life cause. With most of those members already in tough races, and other anti-abortion groups embracing similar strategies, at least a half-dozen pro-life Dems could be headed for defeat this fall.

The schism between pro-lifers and their Democratic allies goes back to the frantic final days of the health care debate, when Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and a group of other pro-life Dems dropped their opposition to the legislation because President Obama had promised to ensure that no federal money went to abortions. But pro-life lobbying groups—especially the powerful US Conference of Catholic Bishops—didn’t follow suit, as the Stupak bloc maintains they’d been led to believe. Instead, the bishops and other anti-abortion organizations continued to claim (falsely) that the bill would fund abortions. This deprived the pro-life Dems of political cover and, in effect, painted targets on their backs.

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the Catholic social-justice organization Network, says several of Stupak’s colleagues told her they expected that “getting the best deal possible” on the abortion issue would “get the Conference on board.” Instead, she says, the members found themselves “hung out to dry.”

Stupak is now convinced that he was duped by the bishops and other pro-life groups that never really intended to back the bill. But that realization came too late for him and his colleagues—and perhaps for the Democratic majority. If all or most of the Stupak bloc members lose in November, it will bring the GOP that much closer to taking back the House.

In the end, though, the political calculus of the bishops and other abortion opponents could come back to haunt pro-lifers. Stupak and his crowd have delivered for their political allies, and with them gone, abortion foes would have to rely on Republicans—some of whom are not solid pro-lifers—while facing a Democratic president and a more firmly pro-choice Democratic caucus. Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America, says fellow abortion foes have made a grave mistake. “The pro-life movement is going to lose, and we’re going to be responsible for our own demise.”

Update, October 22: Since this article came out, the outlook for pro-life Dems may have gotten worse. And the battle over abortion has affected Rep. Steve Driehaus’ reelection race in a big way.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate