The real abortion extremists

President Biden made an astounding pledge this week. He promised to make abortion rights his first priority in the next Congress—if his party holds on to both houses of Congress. There is simply no way to deny that a commitment to abortion is now central to the modern Democratic Party’s agenda.

This call for doubling down on abortion rights is part of a last minute push by the White House to win the midterm elections, or at least to limit losses. At this point, polls show them losing a significant number of seats, due to historically high inflation, rising crime in many cities, and a looming recession. Democrats want to change the subject to abortion, which they feel is a winning issue for them in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe.

Early on, it seemed Democrats were right when they argued that the jolt of the Supreme Court decision could reduce the November damage, as polls showed them closing the gap with Republicans. Republicans, in turn, were defensive on the issue as journalists pressed GOP candidates on the most extreme abortion cases, leaving many unprepared Republicans wanting to change the subject. Many establishment GOP figures and even some conservative pundits cautioned that perhaps pro-life candidates should reconsider their previous stances on calling for total abortion bans.

But pro-life leaders wisely counseled Republicans to stop being defensive and go on the offensive, pressing Democrats on their extremism. In early September, U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., introduced federal legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks, a position that multiple surveys show garners the support of a majority of Americans. Many professional pundits decried this move, claiming that this hurt GOP chances of a red wave in the fall. But Graham’s legislation seems to have changed the subject on abortion, putting Democrats on the defensive.

Now, journalists are asking pro-choice Senate candidates if they would favor any limits, and none of them seem willing to answer. In Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, when asked by CNN if he supported any restrictions on abortion, even in the third trimester, said he didn’t. In Texas, Beto O’Rourke offered a similar answer, pivoting to generic talking points about a mother and her doctor.

In Arizona, candidate Katie Hobbs, running for the governor’s chair, was pressed by CNN’s Dana Bash and refused to offer up any acceptable limits on abortion. And in Georgia, pro-choice “pastor” Raphael Warnock declared that the delivery room was “too small for the government.” Even the White House answered “no” when asked if President Biden would support any abortion restrictions.

This defensiveness by Democrats is a sad indictment of our country, where elected officials cannot bring themselves to see the humanity of the unborn, even up to the point of birth. But it’s also an important clarifying moment. The real extremists are not those who champion the unborn, but those who champion the destruction of the unborn. There can be no ambiguity here. Support for abortion is a morally indefensible position that should cause us to recoil in shock and horror. Thankfully, a majority of the American people seem to disagree with the “abortion until birth” policy of the Democrats.

Pro-lifers should be wise about their arguments for the sanctity of human life and should work to pass as many restrictions as we can where we can. We should demonstrate compassion toward mothers in crisis. We should work to create and build a culture of life. But we should never flinch from declaring what we know to be true: that from the earliest moment of conception the baby in the womb is a human being lovingly crafted by the Creator (Psalm 139). We should not be embarrassed to stand up for the most defenseless among us, whose voices are silenced every day in abortion clinics around the country. And we should say to the president, “Your priority for the next Congress should be repentance, not abortion.”