Groups Blast DCCC’s Willingness To Back Anti-Abortion Candidates

Aug. 05--Women's rights activists in Connecticut are blasting national Democrats for embracing a big-tent strategy that would allow candidates who oppose abortion to get financial support from the party.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico reignited old divisions with the party earlier this week when he told a Capitol Hill newspaper that he would not impose a "litmus test" on candidates.

"As we look at candidates across the country, you need to make sure you have candidates that fit the district, that can win in these districts across America," Luján told The Hill.

His remarks drew a swift condemnation from some Connecticut Democrats, who view support for abortion rights as one of the party's core values, along with the preservation of Social Security and the Affordable Care Act.

"The Democratic Party should stand with women and should be uncompromising on this issue,'' said Dan Drew, the mayor of Middletown and a Democratic candidate for governor. "There should be absolutely no quarter given and no support given to candidates who don't support women's reproductive choices. In the name of winning, surrendering your principles is a massive error."

Drew and other activists from the party's progressive wing gathered on the north steps of the state Capitol Friday morning to call on the DCCC and the Connecticut Democratic party to denounce Luján's approach. The group included NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, Planned Parenthood Votes! Connecticut and several state legislators.

Jillian Gilchrest, a co-organizer of the Women's March Connecticut, said Democratic leaders have tried to harness the power of the newly energized liberal activists who have sprung up since President Donald Trump's election.

"But I don't think they read our unity principles and they certainly didn't learn from our approach,'' Gilchrest said. "The women's march believes in pro-choice values and we believe that when you bring people in you don't do it at the expense of others. We need the DCCC and all Democratic leaders to treat abortion as a personal decision and not a political one."

Leigh Appleby, a spokesman for the Connecticut Democratic Party, declined to criticize Luján's remarks.

"The Connecticut Democratic Party has a long track record of supporting candidates and elected officials who not only support a woman's right to choose, but work tirelessly to ensure resources are available for all women to access critical reproductive health care,'' Appleby said. "On the other hand, the Connecticut legislators who put forward dozens and dozens of anti-choice bills in 2017 alone have one thing in common: They're not members of our party."

The Democratic Party has long been divided over how to handle abortion rights and those divisions have deepened following the party's humbling defeat in the 2016 election. Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez recently met with a group of anti-abortion Democrats.

Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, which strongly opposes legalized abortion, said he salutes the DCCC for its willingness to open the door to anti-abortion candidates.

The liberal abortion-rights activists who take a hard line against candidates that do not back their view wouldn't support former Connecticut congresswoman and governor Ella Grasso, Wolfgang said. "She was a feminist icon, the first woman in the country to be elected governor in her own right and she was a pro-life Democrat,'' he said. "If this standard were applied in the '70s and '80s in Connecticut, Ella Grasso would not be welcomed in her own party."

State Rep. Matthew Lesser, a Middletown Democrat who is exploring a run for secretary of the state and served on the Democratic National Committee's platform committee in 2012, rejected the idea that the Democratic Party forces its candidates to march in lockstep.

"Of course there's a big tent. You see that right now in this building as we have different ideas of how to move the state forward and how to balance the budget,'' Lesser said.

"But there are core issues that unite us as Democrats" and legalized abortion is one of them, he added.

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