Democrats reject move to allow pro-life stance in party platform

Now here’s a surprise:

The National Democratic Party Platform Committee refused to include pro life language in the party platform.

I also hear that it’s hot in Death Valley and the Pope is still Catholic.

Any other news?

Democrats for Life of America caused a ripple earlier this summer by managing to gain an audience with the 2012 National Democratic Platform Committee. (read their testimony here) If you doubt the hammerlock that pro choice advocates have on the Democratic Party, consider that this is the first time a pro-life group has been allowed to speak to this committee in decades.

Of course, the Democratic Party more than owes this to Democrats for Life of America. They’ve shamelessly used the pro-life imprimatur this group gives in swing district elections. They may not have much respect for pro-life Democrats most of the time, but they have no qualms about getting on the phone and asking for an endorsement when the votes are tight.

I think anyone who can count votes knows that the Affordable Health Care Act would not have become law without the help of Democrats for Life of America. The HHS Mandate made a mockery of the promises President Obama gave to this group concerning abortion and the right to conscience. Democrats for Life of America has filed comments against the HHS Mandate, reminding the President of his promises and asking him to honor them.

So. This organization has certainly earned the right to give testimony to the Democratic Party Platform Committee. It’s too bad that the Committee chose to treat this testimony with the same contempt that the President showed to his promises to them about the Affordable Health Care Act. But, it’s not surprising. At least not to me.

I know these pro-choice Democrats. They aren’t going to give an inch. The only way we will change the Democratic Party Platform is by changing who sits on that committee.

Having said that, I can tell you that I do think the whole exercise was worthwhile. The reason I feel this way is because I know something that both parties want to keep secret: We are never going to overturn Roe v Wade and build a culture of life with half the people.

In the first place, neither political party — and I mean neither political party — wants to reverse Roe v Wade. They both benefit from it too much to ever do that. Forty years of getting nowhere should be our first clue to that.

Even if it was possible to somehow force a change in the law with half the people, that change would not stand. Power shifts back and forth in this country. Whatever one party did, the other one would undo. The truth is, we need both the Democrats and the Republicans if we are going to win this thing. The longer we take figuring that out, the longer the killing will go on.

That’s why Democrats for Life of America is important. I got exasperated with them over the Affordable Health Care Act. I didn’t then and I don’t now understand how anyone could be so naive as to believe those promises. On the other hand, pro-life Democrats, together with pro-life Republicans, are the key to winning the political part of this fight for life.

Anybody who’s ever been in a law-making position can tell you that it’s a lot easier to kill a bill than it is to pass one. All you have to do to kill a piece of legislation is to get the support of the right legislator. That’s it. One legislator in the right position is all it takes. But in order to make a law you need the majorities of both houses, plus the Governor or President. Looking on down the road; you need the Supreme Court.

There is no way — I mean NO WAY — that we are ever going to be able to change the laws on issues of life with just one political party. Oh, we can fiddle with it a bit. We can make a few requirements and issue some regulations. But given the hedge of protection that the Supreme Court has built around the “right” to legal abortion, that’s about it.

Overturning this thing is going to take something massive. That means we need both parties and we need them for quite some time. That’s why Democrats for Life of America is important. It’s also why the ultimate solution can not be entirely political. The amount of money and effort it would take to create two pro-life political parties so long as the people themselves are divided on the issue is unthinkable.

What Democrats for Life of America attempted is important, even if it didn’t succeed. Getting into that party machinery is a big part of how the pro choice people took the Democrats away from us in the first place. Democrats weren’t always pro-abortion. For at least ten years after Roe, the Democratic Party faithful were majority pro-life.

That was an opportunity that pro-life people threw away. If we’re going to change things, we need to make that opportunity for ourselves once again.

There are ardent pro-life Democrats. But as one of them I can tell you that what we mostly get from our party is abuse. Look at the photo at the top of this blog to see what I mean. At the same time, the role we play as pro-life Democrats within the legislative process is absolutely critical.

I know for a fact that there are a number of pro-life bills that would not have passed in Oklahoma the past few years if I had not been there and if I had not been a pro-life Democrat as opposed to a pro-life Republican. It’s a matter of strategy, tactics and positioning that is too complex to explain here. Let it suffice to say that pro-life Democrats are essential to pro-life efforts.

I am not trying to take away from the efforts of pro-life Republicans by saying this. I’m certainly not asking anyone to switch parties. All I’m saying is that if we want to stop the killing, we need to get it through our thick skulls that we will need all the people to do it.