Opposing pro-life candidates may not be the best course of action for the Democratic party going forward.
Pro-Life Democrats are already stepping forward after Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan last week urged the Democrats to court pro-life candidates if they are to have any chance to regaining a majority in the House of Representatives.
Paul Spencer of Arkansas is a Democrat, but also stands for pro-life—not exactly the stance the majority of progressive Democrats have taken in recent years. And, he says, he doesn’t care to be funded by the party in the 2018 election.
“I’ve already informed the Democratic Party here in Little Rock that I don’t want to receive any of their money,” Spencer told Fox News recently. “I welcome their support and advice, but I don’t wish for their money. And the DCCC, in Washington, I’ve already had that discussion with them as well.”
Spencer has lived in Arkansas’ 2nd District for 18 years and dislikes big-money politics.
Kristen Day of Democrats for Life of America told Fox News that “opposing all pro-life candidates will not help the Democrats in 2018.
“Their strategy is hurting the party,” Day said. “Being told I don’t belong in the Democratic Party. You can’t be a Democrat if you’re pro-life, and I can’t be pro-life because I’m a Democrat.”
Lujan raised the ire of progressives with his plea last week. Groups such as the National Abortion Rights Action League and Emily’s List strongly rebuked Lujan’s challenge.
“The problem is they have this ideological purity at the top where you can oppose any abortion at any time along the continuum,” Majorie Dannenfelser of the conservative Susan B Anthony List told Fox News.
Fox News’ Doug McKelway says the Democratic Party is trying to “straddle the line” between pro-abortion and pro-life. A new program, called “A Better Deal,” avoids any mention of abortion rights. {eoa}
