Michael New writes for National Review Online about a challenge for Democrats’ election campaigns. New argues that they are unable to moderate their abortion message.
In many Democratic-controlled states, Democratic elected officials have taken action to weaken or repeal many commonsense pro-life laws.
For instance, In 2020 Virginia repealed its informed-consent law and waiting period. In 2020, Massachusetts weakened its parental consent law. As a result, 16- and 17-year-old girls in the Bay State can now obtain abortions without their parents’ permission. In 2021, Illinois repealed its parental involvement law altogether. Finally, during the past ten years, seven state Medicaid programs in politically liberal states have started to cover elective abortion.
This was not always the case. As Gerardi points out, President Bill Clinton said abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Democratic elected officials did little from a policy perspective to build a culture of life. However, rhetoric from Presidents Clinton and Barack Obama did disincentivize other Democratic elected officials from taking steps to make abortion policy more permissive.
The main issue is that the demographics of the Democratic Party have changed. The generation of Democrats that came of age during the Great Depression and World War II tended to be fairly liberal on economic issues but moderate to conservative on social issues. This bloc was an important part of the Democratic Party’s electoral coalition, and Democratic candidates did not want to alienate these voters.
However, this generation of Democrats has largely passed away and has been replaced by a generation that is much more secular and more liberal on social issues. Furthermore, primary voters exert outsized influence over elected officials, and Democratic primary voters tend to be extremely liberal on the issue of abortion. I am therefore inclined to agree with Gerardi. At least in the short term, the prospect of moderation is remote.
