Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...

American political

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

nonprofit organization that seeks to elect

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

Democrats and to encourage the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

to oppose

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

, capital punishment, and abortion. DFLA's position on abortion is in opposition to the current platform of the Democratic Party, which generally supports abortion rights. The group takes no position on most socioeconomic issues or any

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

. They have drafted the

Pregnant Women Support Act The Pregnant Women Support Act was created by the Democrats for Life of America anintroduced into Congressby then Representative Lincoln Davis of Tennessee. The Senate companion bill was introduced by Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. The package ...

, a comprehensive package of federal legislation and policy proposals that supporters hope will reduce the number of abortions. They have an affiliated political action committee, DFLA PAC. They have proposed linking a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation to increased support for pregnant women and mothers, such as paid medical leave and/or more support for affordable day care.

History

In 1999, Democrats for Life of America was founded to coordinate, at a national level, the efforts of anti-abortion Democrats. In the 1960s and 1970s, anti-abortion Democrats comprised a substantial portion of the party's membership in the United States Congress and the United States Senate. Some Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates ran for those offices as anti-abortion, including Hubert Humphrey and Sargent Shriver. Others were once anti-abortion before running, such as Ted Kennedy,

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

, Bill Clinton, and

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

. In the 1980s, the influence of anti-abortion advocates in the Democratic Party declined slowly but considerably. At the

1992 Democratic National Convention The 1992 Democratic National Convention nominated Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas for president and Senator Al Gore from Tennessee for vice president; Clinton announced Gore as his running-mate on July 9, 1992. The convention was held at Madison ...

, anti-abortion Governor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania was allegedly "barred from addressing the Convention because of his antiabortion views". The official reason given by the Convention organizers was that Casey was not allowed to speak because he did not support the Democratic ticket. Kathy Taylor, a pro-abortion rights activist from Pennsylvania, instead addressed the convention. Taylor was a Republican who had worked for Casey's opponent in the previous gubernatorial election. Several anti-abortion Democrats did address the delegates in 1992, though they did not address the anti-abortion stance, and were not given prominent prime time slots. Governor Casey's son Bob Casey Jr., also an anti-abortion Democrat, spoke during the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The conventi ...

Anti-abortion Democrats in recent elections

2004

In their 2005 book, ''Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future'', Paul Begala and James Carville praised Democrats for Life for their work that led to the

. In the book they say the legislation "is built around seventeen concrete policy proposals that would reduce the number of abortions.... We believe these proposals would do more to prevent abortions than all the speeches, all the marches and all the campaign ads the pro-lifers have used over the past 30 years." They go on to call it "both good politics and, we think, good policy". The initiative has become legislation known as the Pregnant Women Support Act, which "has gained broad support and even has attracted some Republican backers". The Commonwealth of Virginia is the first state to pass a version of the PWSA. Organizations and Individuals who support the bill include the National Association of Evangelicals, Sojourners/Call to Renewal,

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

, Americans United for Life, National Council on Adoption, Life Education and Resource Network,

Redeem the Vote Redeem the Vote is an American Christian right organization founded by Randy Brinson during the U.S. Presidential campaign, 2004, 2004 presidential campaign to register young evangelical Christians to vote, in the model of MTV's youth-vote Rock the ...

Care Net Care Net is an evangelical Christian network of crisis pregnancy centers operating primarily in the United States. As an anti-abortion organization, its centers seek to persuade women not to have abortions. Headquartered in Northern Virginia, it i ...

Tony Campolo Anthony Campolo (born February 25, 1935) is an American sociologist, Baptist pastor, author, public speaker and former spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton. Campolo is known as one of the most influential leaders in the evangelical ...

(founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education),

Joe Turnham Joe Turnham (born October 28, 1959 in Lee County, Alabama) is a United States politician who chaired the Alabama Democratic Party from 2005 to 2011. Family and education Turnham and his family reside in Auburn, and he is the son of Pete Turnh ...

(Chairman, Alabama Democratic Party), U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr., and actor Martin Sheen.

2010

The organization has endorsed Congresswoman

Kathy Dahlkemper Kathleen Ann Dahlkemper ( née Steenberge; born December 10, 1957) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected the county executive of Erie County, Pennsylvania, in 2013 and served as the U.S. representative for ...

and Congressmen Jim Oberstar, Joe Donnelly,

Steve Driehaus Steven Leo Driehaus (born June 24, 1966) is an American politician and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minority Whip in the Ohio House of Representat ...

, and many other anti-abortion Democrats for the

2010 midterm elections The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obama's first term. Republicans ended unified Democratic control of Congress and the presidency by winning a majority in the H ...

, and its PAC raised over $42,000 in 2010. Of the four mentioned above, only Donnelly was reelected. Oberstar was defeated after 18 terms. Additionally, all four of the freshmen endorsed by DFLA in 2008 were defeated for re-election in 2010 (see above).

2018

Representative Dan Lipinski, a long-time anti-abortion Democrat, from one of Illinois' Chicago-area House districts won his primary. Three Democratic Senators, who self-identify as anti-abortion, had voted to ban abortion after 20 weeks and ran for reelection to the US Senate; Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia had all voted with most Republicans on the issue. Donnelly and Manchin had been endorsed by Democrats for Life in their reelection bids. On the afternoon of July 20, 2018, DLFA Executive Director Kristen Day hosted an event where anti-abortion Democrats from around the nation gathered for their first annual conference at a Radisson Hotel in Aurora, Colorado. Over 18 individual speaking sessions were arranged over the course of three days. The keynote speaker on Friday evening was former U.S. Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) who was instrumental in keeping abortion funding out of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Stupak discussed the challenges of being an anti-abortion Democrat while promoting his new book ''For All Americans''.

2020

Representative Dan Lipinski was defeated in a primary election against

Marie Newman Marie Newman (née Klassen; born April 13, 1964) is an American politician and marketing consultant who served as the U.S. representative from Illinois's 3rd congressional district from 2021 to 2023. The district encompasses parts of southweste ...

. Representatives Collin Peterson and

Ben McAdams Benjamin Michael McAdams (born December 5, 1974) is an American politician and attorney who served as the U.S. representative from Utah's 4th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He was the only Democratic member of Utah's congressional del ...

were both defeated in their general election races. This left

Henry Cuellar Enrique Roberto Cuellar (born September 19, 1955) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he is considered one of the most conservative representatives in the De ...

as the only anti-abortion Democrat in the House of Representatives.https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/11/petersons-loss-shrinks-number-of-pro-life-democrats-in-house/

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Democrats for Life of America Life of America Factions in the Democratic Party (United States) Anti-abortion organizations in the United States 1999 establishments in the United States 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations