Lucy Gellman photo / Thomas Breen photo
Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders: Different views on “pro-life Democrats.”
Concord, N.H.—Is there room for “pro-life Democrats” in the Democratic Party of 2020?
Depends on whom you ask. The ascendant Midwestern moderate in the race for the party’s presidential nomination sees plenty of room for “future former Republicans.” The leading progressive candidate is not so sure.
That divide over whether or not one of the country’s two mainstream political parties should be a big enough tent to include those who reject a woman’s right to an abortion was one of the many legal topics touched upon Saturday during a nearly four-hour “Our Rights, Our Courts” candidate forum here in Concord.
The crowd at Saturday morning’s forum.
Coming just three days before the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, the forum brought out eight Democratic hopefuls and over 500 prospective voters to the gymnasium of New Hampshire Technical Institute.
The event, which focused on the role of the federal courts in contemporary American politics, was moderated by MSBNC anchor Stephanie Ruhle and hosted by the progressive, pro-choice advocacy groups Demand Justice, the Center for Reproductive Rights, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the All Above All Action Fund.
During her one-on-one interviews with former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ruhle asked the respective moderate and progressive frontrunners whether the ultimate Democratic Party presidential nominee should draw a line in the sand on who exactly should be welcome in the party.
“Is there such a thing as a pro-life Democrat in your vision for the party,” she asked each of the candidates over the course of the event.
The question was more than just an ideological purity test for two aspiring standard bearers for different wings of the Democratic Party.
It got at a larger political conundrum of where the necessary strategic coalition building required to win a national election with tens of millions of voters ends and where an individual’s faith in unwavering, immutable, foundational human rights begins.
The moderator did not pose the question to the two female candidates present, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. Warren did repeat an argument she made the night before in a debate: That 75 percent of the country supports legal access to abortion, so she would push for a national law to codify the protections in Roe v. Wade.
Buttigieg and Sanders told the moderator that, personally and politically, they are 100 percent in support of a women’s right to choose and of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that currently protects that right.
They offered different responses, however, as to whether or not that steadfast belief must extend to everyone else who identifies as a Democrat.
“As Many People Voting With Our Side As Possible”
Buttigieg: Open to a big tent.
“We are a big tent and I know that there are some in my party and a lot outside my party who don’t view this issue in the same pro-choice way that I do,” Buttigieg said in response to Ruhle’s question.
“I understand that different people come to their viewpoints honestly.”
He said that not all voters have to fall in line and have the same opinion on the legality or morality of abortion services, he said.
However, he continued, “this is about an American freedom about who gets to draw the line. When it comes to criminalizing women or criminalizing their doctors, that is simply not consistent with the values that draw me to the Democratic Party” and that many other Democrats ascribe to.
“I don’t know what your answer is,” Ruhle responded. “Can there be pro-life Democrats?” She said President Donald Trump’s base of evangelical Christians views this issue in a mostly “black-and-white way.”
“Is there a way to approach women’s reproductive rights in a more nuanced way?”
“Is there such a thing as individuals who identify as pro-life who can and do vote Democrat?” Buttigieg replied. “Absolutely.
“This is a moment when I would like to see as many people voting with our side as possible.”
He said he optimistically refers to many non-Democrats whom he hopes to attract with his “big tent” campaign as “future former Republicans.”
“What I’m not going to do is try to get somebody’s vote by tricking them,” he concluded. Voters will ultimately have to take a look at his policy platform and his ideological beliefs and decide for themselves whether he is a good fit for their vote.
“I’m not afraid to lose somebody’s vote by being honest with them,” he said. “That’s the highest respect you can show to somebody: left, right, or center.”
“Being Pro-Choice Is Essential To That Vision”
Sanders: In 2020, being a Democrat means being pro-choice.
When Ruhle asked the Vermont senator the same question nearly an hour and a half later, Sanders gave a more definitive response.
“I think being pro-choice is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat,” he said.
By this time in history, Sanders continued, “when we talk about what a Democrat is, being pro-choice is essential to that vision.”
But that doesn’t mean that his campaign is shooting for a “small tent” party by any means, he said. In fact, quite the opposite.
Sanders said his campaign this year, just as his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, is based on building a broad coalition of primarily working-class Americans.
“My cabinet and my administration will look like America,” he said. “When you turn on the television, I will guarantee you will see at least one old white guy. That’s me. I suspect there would not be a lot of other old white guys.” Instead, there will be people who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of this country.
Does that include white evangelicals who have currently consolidated behind Trump? Ruhle asked.
“Is it time for a candidate like you to redefine what family values are in 2020?’
I think so, Sanders replied.
“I happen to believe that we as human beings, we share a common set of beliefs and hopes and aspirations, no matter what the color of our skin is or our sexual orientation or our gender.” And that common humanity extends beyond this country to every corner of the globe, he said.
“I think the goal here when we talk about family values: it is a common humanity which says that all of us want to live in freedom.” We want to be able to control our own lives, he said. We want a job that pays a living wage. We want to be able to visit the doctor regardless of how much money we have. We want access to a good education without going bankrupt.
That’s what this campaign is about, he said.
“Your life is a fuller life, a more human life, by reaching our and improving the lives of others,” he said.