Abortion Debate Continues To Roil Democratic Party

The Democratic Party self-inflicted abortion litmus test fight continues to cause major problems for the Party at a time where it can least afford it. This week, the litmus test fight was re-ignited by comments made to Politico by Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.

In her interview, Richards attacked DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján, saying his comments were a “shocking sort of misunderstanding of actually where the country is”:

“Abortion rights activists erupted, and Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, couldn’t be clearer on how wrong she thinks Luján is. ‘It’s a shocking sort of misunderstanding of actually where the country is … which is overwhelmingly supportive of abortion rights and also, who are the ground troops that kind of fuel the election of candidates,’ Richards told me in an interview at her office in Lower Manhattan.”

Importantly, Richards also pledged that she will join the group of prominent Democrats, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who will not let the Democratic Party moderate its message to win votes next year:

“Democrats like Luján argue that to win back the conservative areas they’ve lost, the party will need to be flexible and let candidates break with liberal orthodoxy—including on hot-button national issues like abortion—in order to win. To Richards, that isn’t just wrong on principle, it’s dense on politics.”

The Democratic Party’s rush to the left in recent years has been a key contributing factor in its electoral wipeout across the country. Richards’ comments show that many Democratic Party bigwigs don’t care about that, so long as their personal favorite purity test is enforced.