Tipsheet

Maddow Presses Warren On Whether There's Room For Pro-Life Dems in the Party

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  November 21, 2019 8:00 AM

During Wednesday night's Democratic debate, presidential candidates showed once again how far left they are on the issue of abortion.

When asked by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow about whether as president they would intervene if “abortion access disappears in some states,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren began her response by declaring that “abortion rights are human rights.” 

“Protecting the right of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body is fundamentally what we do and what we stand for as a Democratic Party,” she replied. 

Warren also argued that abortion rights are “economic rights” too. 

“Understand this. When someone makes abortion illegal in America, rich women will still get abortions,” she said. “It's just going to fall hard on poor women. It's going to fall hard on girls, women who don't even know that they're pregnant because they have been molested by an uncle. I want to be an America where everybody has a chance.

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"And I know it can be a hard decision for people. But here's the thing. When it comes down to that decision, a woman should be able to call on her mother, she should be able to call on her partner, she should be able to call on her priest or her rabbi. But the one entity that should not be in the middle of that decision is the government.”

Maddow pressed Warren on whether she believed there was room in the Democratic Party for pro-lifers such as Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. While she did not directly say no, she reiterated where she believes the Democratic Party needs to be on abortion. 

“I have made clear what I think the Democratic Party stands for,” she said. “I'm not here to try to drive anyone out of this party. I'm not here to try to build fences. But I am here to say, this is what I will fight for as president of the United States.”