National Catholic Register
Jan. 30, 2005
Pro-Life Democrats Seek Hope In Future
by PATRICK NOVECOSKY
Register Correspondent
WASHINGTON – As the battle for chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee heats up, pro-life Democrats say the party may be becoming more responsive to right-to-life members since losing the election last fall.
That would be a big change for the party which hasn’t even allowed pro-life members to speak at its national conventions in more than a decade.
Several pro-abortion members of Congress have thrown their support behind former Indiana congressman Tim Roemer, a pro-life Catholic Democrat, in his bid to succeed Terry McAuliffe as party chairman.
Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democratic congressman from Michigan, said the election was a wake-up call for the party.
“If you’re a Democratic leader — no matter who you are — if you really think you’re going to be back in the majority, you’ve got to start paying attention to some of us conservative/moderate Democrats,” he said.
Roemer is hoping that more party members are paying attention to him as the Feb. 12 election approaches.
The former 9/11 Commission member has the backing of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., an outspoken pro-abortion congresswoman, and newly appointed Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., whose National Right to Life Committee voting record score is 55%, much higher than most of his colleagues.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, considered the front-runner for the DNC chairmanship, has also made a pitch for more openness toward pro-life Democrats, though Dean is staunchly pro-abortion.
Dean declined to be interviewed by the Register, but he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in December that he has “long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats.” Dean also made it clear that Democrats should change their “vocabulary” — but not their “principles” — on abortion.
Roemer, however, said the party is out of step with American values — including life issues.
“We did not do a particularly good job talking about those values, connecting with the people, energizing voters to get to the polls in the last election. We lost Catholic voters and Hispanic voters. We lost some ground with church-going African-Americans, and we lost 97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the United States,” he said.
“The Democrats need to talk about our values, such as national security, job security, Social Security and economic security. We also need to point out where the Republican administration has dropped the ball — on trying to dismantle Social Security, on only using military power abroad rather than our use of military, economic and political power. You need to use all three. We need to stress the high quality of jobs for working people in this country. We need to be concerned about the poor and social-justice issues.”
‘A Bigger Tent’
Dean and Roemer join five other candidates in the DNC race: former Rep. Martin Frost of Texas; former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb; Simon Rosenberg, head of the centrist New Democratic Network; former Ohio Democratic state chairman David Leland; and Donnie Fowler, a veteran Democratic activist and campaign manager for retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s presidential bid.
Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, considered a run, but opted against it in mid-January.
As expected, Roemer’s opponents have turned his pro-life record into an issue. The former congressman’s record earned him a 94% rating from the National Right to Life Committee.
Roemer told a gathering in St Louis in mid-January that he wanted to have “a conversation” on issues, but that he is “having trouble doing this because of negative campaigning and litmus tests.”
His comments came at the opening of a candidates’ forum at the DNC Midwest Caucus. Roemer was reacting to an opposition-research memo being circulated in Washington and Democratic circles that outlined his voting record.
Roemer told the Register that his pro-life record should have no bearing on his ability to chair the party.
“We should not have a litmus test for any one issue in the Democratic Party,” he said. “When Arnold Schwarzenegger, who believes one thing about abortion, and George W. Bush, the president of the United States, believes something else, and they can appear together, certainly we should have a bigger tent on the Democratic side.”
Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, issued comments critical of Roemer’s candidacy in a Dec. 17 open statement to the DNC.
“The Democratic Party and its leadership should champion pro-choice values, and uphold the ... commitment to women’s rights and health,” the statement said.
Potential Impact
Roemer’s pro-abortion critics fear he may be jeopardizing the future of the Democratic Party by neglecting its platform. The 2004 Democratic National Platform for America states that the party stands “proudly for a woman’s right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade” and adds that “abortion should be safe, legal and rare.”
But Roemer argues there is room for both views.
“The Democratic Party can be a party that tries to cut down on the number of abortions and ... works to reduce unwanted pregnancies.” he said. “The abortion rate was reduced 11% in the Clinton administration because we worked hard to support family planning and economic agencies that helped provide health care for newborn babies and education opportunities.”
Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information for the Pro-Life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, however, said Roemer’s claim that abortion rates dropped during the Clinton administration is based on flawed data.
An article by Fuller Theological Seminary professor Glen Stassen, which was widely circulated before the 2004 election, said that the number of abortions in the United States dropped by 17.4% from 1990 to 2000.
Stassen’s analysis is “fraught with error,” Ruse said in a statement. “A recent study published by Harvard-MIT researcher Michael New attributes the decline in abortions in the 1990s to laws prohibiting the public funding of abortion and laws requiring informed consent and parental notice or consent — laws which are routinely opposed by ‘pro-choice’ advocates and politicians.”
The DNC chairman is not in a policy-making position, so would a pro-life chairman even make a difference?
“Absolutely,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America. “It would send such a strong message to pro-life Democrats across the country that our party is trying to be inclusive and that pro-life Democrats do have a home in our party.”
Stupak said Democrats are beginning to recognize that they need more moderate candidates to win.
“There are a number of members in our party who have always represented those views,” he said. “People have been more receptive in the short time since the election. They look at us and say, ‘Okay, how do you guys win with 66% of the vote in a heavily Republican area?’
“We still believe in a strong family process, and we’re right-to-life. We’re not running around saying we’re going to take everyone’s guns away,” Stupak said “If you get someone who’s sincere to those principles — whether they’re Republican or Democrat — they’re going to win these seats.”
Patrick Novecosky writes
from Ann
Arbor, Michigan.
Sidebar:
Republican Moves Trouble Pro-Lifers
WASHINGTON - While Democrats seem to be flirting with pro-lifers in their midst, there are signs in the Republican Party that are troubling to the pro-life base that re-elected President Bush.
In early January, one of the Republicans’ strongest pro-life voices in Congress was ousted from a committee chairmanship.
And just before Bush’s second inauguration, his party elected a pro-abortion political operative as co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.
But Jo Ann Davidson, who was elected to the post Jan. 19, told the Register that she will serve the president faithfully.
“I am advocating for what the president believes in,” she said. “I’m 100% where the president stands on the issues.”
Observers contend that the co-chairmanship is more ceremonial than substantive, but the appointment of a pro-abortion Republican to a symbolic position still has pro-life activists up in arms. The Internet-based LifeSiteNews.com reported that Davidson was a board member of Republicans for Choice since its inception in 1990.
LifeSiteNews quotes Greg Quinlan, executive director of the Pro-Family Network of Ohio, saying that, as speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Davidson twice killed the Defense of Marriage Act before it could be voted on in committee. She called the legislation “unnecessary.”
Republican National Committee spokesman Brian Jones told the Register that Ken Mehlman, who was also elected co-chairman Jan. 19, is not concerned about Davidson’s past pro-abortion efforts.
“Her position is not a policy-making position, and she made that clear today,” he said. “She’s going to be behind the president, and that means being behind lower taxes for working families, reducing health-care costs through stopping or reducing the number of frivolous lawsuits, and supporting a culture of life.”
Davidson, who was chairwoman of the Bush campaign in the pivotal Ohio Valley region, declined to discuss her views on abortion. “My focus is on building a stronger party,” she said.
“My key focus is to take some o the lessons that we learned in the 2004 elections about grass-roots activities and get those firmly institutionalized within our party structure. That’s where my entire focus will be.”
Jones said Mehlman, who was Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 will work to expand the party by reaching out to people who haven’t voted Republican in overwhelming numbers, like African-Americans Latinos and young urban voters.
But are they alienating others the same time? Pro-life New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith — who as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, pushed hard for increased funding for veterans programs — lost not only his chairmanship at the beginning of the 109th Congress, but his membership on the committee as well. He had two years remaining on the Republicans’ self-imposed term limits for committee chairmen, according to The Hill, a Washington daily that covers Congress.
Smith is co-chairman of the bipartisan House Pro-Life Caucus.
“The House GOP leaders couldn’t tolerate such an effective crusader in their midst,” editorialized The Philadelphia Inquirer, “not with an austere budget season looming.”
— Patrick Novecosky
© 2005 Circle Media/National Catholic Register.