Last month, Democrats in Missouri voted to finally give pro-life members a voice in their party.
But now, it appears they’ve changed their minds.
It was on Saturday, June 30 when Missouri’s Democratic Party approved its new platform--a platform that included, incidentally, a revolutionary last-minute amendment that welcomed “a diversity of views” on abortion.
"We respect the conscience of each Missourian and recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing positions on issues of personal conscience, such as abortion," read the amendment. "We recognize the diversity of views as a source of strength, and welcome into our ranks all Missourians who may hold differing positions on this issue."
Although the new addition to the platform passed committee (one unofficial count was reported to be 32-25 in the affirmative), it also sparked outrage among pro-abortion Democrats.
Angry far-left progressives are claiming that the proposed amendment was emailed out just one day prior to the scheduled vote--and that the vote itself was set to occur when a number of Democrats were out participating in immigration protests, and therefore unable to participate.
So this past Saturday (and just one month after the passage of Proposition A), in a decisive vote of 61 to zero (with two abstentions, according to Planned Parenthood staffer Sarah Felts), Missouri Democrats voted to reverse the controversial amendment.
Even Representative Joan Barry, the St. Louis County Democrat who authored the amendment in the first place, cast a “yes” vote to have it struck down.
Chairman of Missouri’s Democratic Party, Stephen Webber, issued a strongly-worded statement about the most recent change.
Recommended
“Missouri Democrats are strongest when we fight together. We saw that on Tuesday when we worked together to resoundingly defeat Prop A and we saw that at our State Committee meeting today when our members stood united to pass a platform that clearly demonstrates our Party's unwavering commitment to defend the right of all Missourians to access reproductive health care without interference from the government.
Democrats will continue to fight to defend the full spectrum of women’s reproductive rights ensured in Roe v. Wade, including the right to safely end a pregnancy, to safely carry a pregnancy to term, and the right to raise your family in a safe and healthy environment.”
The party platform’s section on abortion now reads, “A woman’s right to choose and the right of every person to their own bodily autonomy and to be free from government intrusion in medical decisions, including a decision to carry a pregnancy to term, and oppose any efforts to limit access to reproductive health care.”
But not all Democrats are happy about the party’s extreme decision to reverse course, and ultimately continue excluding pro-lifers from its ranks.
According to a statement from national organization Democrats for Life of America, "Missouri pro-life Democrats are real Democrats who support labor and helped to defeat the right-to-work proposition this week. They support health care, a living wage, and a host of other issues on which all Democrats agree. We want to be in this party, and we will wait for a clear statement from Chairman Webber on where we stand.”
The statement continued, "Pro-life Democrats have stayed in the shadows and have been taken for granted long enough. We must be recognized and heard. Right now, we are hearing that current leaders of the Democratic Party do not want us and we should look elsewhere."
It is unknown how the contentious issue of abortion will ultimately affect Missouri Democrats going forward. But it appears that, for now anyway, the Democratic Party remains more interested in promoting abortion than in welcoming diversity.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member