House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) demonstrated her strong support of abortion by inviting Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen to be among her guests at the State of the Union address Tuesday evening.
“As an immigrant, a mother, a doctor, and the president of Planned Parenthood, I am honored to attend the State of the Union as the guest of Speaker Pelosi — who throughout her illustrious career has been a staunch champion for women’s rights, immigrant rights, voting rights, and universal access to health care,” Wen said in a statement.
“Planned Parenthood is proud to have Speaker Pelosi’s leadership of a pro-reproductive health House of Representatives,” she added. “And we look forward to working with her to advance a pro-women, pro-family, and pro-economy agenda that affirms health care as a fundamental human right, and women’s rights—and all people’s rights—as human rights.”
I am so honored to join @SpeakerPelosi as one of her guests for #SOTU2019, along with @MaryKayHenry @TomPerez @RichardTrumka @fred_guttenberg @CHIRLA @sparta_pride
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) February 5, 2019
I look forward to working with Speaker Pelosi to advance a pro-women, pro-family & pro-economy agenda in the House pic.twitter.com/rk9TqmErTr
Planned Parenthood called Wen’s attendance at the State of the Union address “significant at a time when women’s reproductive rights are under constant threat.”
They added that the invitation was “a symbolic reminder that majority of Americans support access to safe and legal abortion,” citing a study saying that 73 percent of voters do not want Roe v. Wade overturned.
However, a recent Marist poll found that 75 percent of Americans believe abortion should be restricted to – at most – the first three months of pregnancy.
Pelosi’s invitation to Dr. Wen comes at a time when many have been condemning the abortion extremism on the left. President Trump is expected to mention the abortion issue in his address in light of the recent push by Democrats, particularly in New York and Virginia, for measures protecting late term abortion.
Monday evening, Senate Democrats blocked a measure that would have legally protected infants born alive after an abortion procedure.
Last week, Virginia Democrats received pushback as Del. Kathy Tran introduced a bill that would allow abortion even after the onset of labor in a now-viral video. She later claimed that she “misspoke” in saying it would allow abortion after labor.
Gov. Ralph Northam argued to WTOP Wednesday that babies could be left to die after birth.
“It’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s nonviable,” Northam said of third trimester abortions. “So in this particular example, if a mother’s in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
He stood by those remarks but is now facing calls to resign over a photo from his medical school yearbook that surfaced Friday which featured someone in Ku Klux Klan robes and someone in blackface.
Planned Parenthood did 332,757 abortions this past year and received $563.8 million in federal funding, according to their latest annual report.