The Democrats’ Abortion Litmus Test Mess

The Democratic Party has been in the midst of a prolonged identity crisis since the devastating loss of the 2016 presidential election and four special elections for Congress, and the latest numbers show it is hurting them financially. According to news reports, the Democratic National Committee has raised just half the amount of money raised by its Republican counterpart for the first half of 2017, a difference of 37.2 million dollars.

Big donors and strategists float several theories to explain the shortfall. Some blame party leadership for being slow to block President Trump’s agenda. Others claim that being understaffed is the problem.

None of them address the massive elephant in the room: the widening rift over the Democratic Party’s extreme platform on abortion.

Pro-life Democrats have faced open hostility within the Party for decades. The late Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Sr. was barred from speaking at the 1992 Democratic National Convention for his defense of the unborn.

In 2010, pro-life Democrats caved to pressure from the White House and cast votes for Obamacare, thelargest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade. They were swept out of office after having betrayed their constituents, and Republicans have held a majority in the House ever since.

Over the course of the 2016 campaign, a new audience of voters had their eyes opened to just how stridently pro-abortion the Democratic Party has become, with nominee Hillary Clinton promising abortion on demand up to the day of birth, paid for by taxpayers, and candidate Donald Trump memorably calling her out for iton the debate stage in front of 71 million viewers.

Some very loyal, longtime Democrats are tired of the “Abortion Party” and have already fled. Even so, polls still show that one-third of rank-and-file Democrats identify themselves as pro-life. Alienating them any further is politically unwise – but that’s exactly what some influential Democrats would do.

Recently, billionaire megadonor Tom Steyer stated that his organization wouldn’t work with any candidate who isn’t one hundred percent on board with the extreme abortion agenda. Democratic Congressional Campaign spokesperson Meredith Kelly also said that “The DCCC has no interest in working with Democrats for Life of America.”

That must have been news to her own boss, DCCC Chairman Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who only late last month declared, “There is not a litmus test for Democratic candidates.”

The voice of the grassroots is speaking, but is anybody listening?

Slamming the door in the faces of voters you desperately need is a recipe for failure. However, the answer is not simply having a slightly “bigger tent.” The Democratic Party has utterly lost its way when it won’t stand up for the most vulnerable and defenseless among us and protect unborn children and their mothers from having their very lives destroyed. Grudging toleration of pro-lifers without any meaningful policy change won’t cut it. Both parties should stand for life on principle.

More From The Daily Caller: