Bernie's wrong: pro-choice isn't optional
Bernie Sanders Defends Campaigning For Anti-Abortion Rights Democrat ... Sen. Bernie Sanders is campaigning for Omaha, Neb., mayoral candidate Heath Mello Thursday night, and he's not apologizing for it.
Will We Abandon Women’s Rights in the Name of Progressive Politics?
[...] Sanders’s definition of what constitutes a progressive became even murkier when he suggested that the election of Heath Mello, who’s running for mayor of Omaha, Nebraska — and who as a state senator sponsored a 20-week abortion ban and mandatory ultrasounds for women seeking abortions — would represent a “shot across the board, that in a state like Nebraska a progressive Democrat can win.” Not to be outdone, Perez amplified the message that reproductive rights are negotiable for the Democratic Party. “If you demand fealty on every single issue,” Perez said, “then it’s a challenge. The Democratic Party platform acknowledges that we’re pro-choice, but there are communities, like some in Kansas, where people have a different position.”
Well, sure. There are also communities in Kansas where voters have different positions from Democrats on immigration reform, labor protections, climate change, voting rights, and health care, and it would be vexing — and not at all progressive — for post-2016 Democrats to alter their stances on any of those issues .... The problem is that Sanders’s vision — and the vision of Perez and the DNC — as they laid it out this week, looked less like a radical transformation of the Democratic Party and more like a return to mistakes the party has made in the past. These mistakes have nothing to do with economic equality, and everything to do with a willingness to sacrifice the rights of much of the party’s base ....
Bernie and Perez are making a big mistake if they believe women's rights are optional for the Democratic party. When you make winning at any cost the ultimate goal, even to the point of sacrificing principles like women's access to health care, then you might as well be the guys on other side - that's not winning, that's losing. Even though I'm a Democrat, I will not vote for a pro-life Democratic candidate ... I've been a woman a lot longer than I've been a Democrat.
More: No Thanks, Bernie: Virginia Abortion Rights Advocates Know Better
Will We Abandon Women’s Rights in the Name of Progressive Politics?
[...] Sanders’s definition of what constitutes a progressive became even murkier when he suggested that the election of Heath Mello, who’s running for mayor of Omaha, Nebraska — and who as a state senator sponsored a 20-week abortion ban and mandatory ultrasounds for women seeking abortions — would represent a “shot across the board, that in a state like Nebraska a progressive Democrat can win.” Not to be outdone, Perez amplified the message that reproductive rights are negotiable for the Democratic Party. “If you demand fealty on every single issue,” Perez said, “then it’s a challenge. The Democratic Party platform acknowledges that we’re pro-choice, but there are communities, like some in Kansas, where people have a different position.”
Well, sure. There are also communities in Kansas where voters have different positions from Democrats on immigration reform, labor protections, climate change, voting rights, and health care, and it would be vexing — and not at all progressive — for post-2016 Democrats to alter their stances on any of those issues .... The problem is that Sanders’s vision — and the vision of Perez and the DNC — as they laid it out this week, looked less like a radical transformation of the Democratic Party and more like a return to mistakes the party has made in the past. These mistakes have nothing to do with economic equality, and everything to do with a willingness to sacrifice the rights of much of the party’s base ....
Bernie and Perez are making a big mistake if they believe women's rights are optional for the Democratic party. When you make winning at any cost the ultimate goal, even to the point of sacrificing principles like women's access to health care, then you might as well be the guys on other side - that's not winning, that's losing. Even though I'm a Democrat, I will not vote for a pro-life Democratic candidate ... I've been a woman a lot longer than I've been a Democrat.
More: No Thanks, Bernie: Virginia Abortion Rights Advocates Know Better
posted by crystal | 9:46 PM
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