Should pro-lifers be kicked out of the Democratic Party?

[BallaFaseke]

Do we need pro-lifers in the party to win? Should we be a party 100% of pro-choicers?

[eissa]

1. No

I don't want to kick anyone out of the party right now, including those I strongly disagree with. I want to win next year, damn it!

[ShaneGR]

2. Uh, no

We've got a lot of pro-life dems in Ohio. Heck, Dennis Kucinich used to be one of em. Trust me, this isn't an issue to start booting out Dems for.

[LittleApple81]

3. No. If you mean they are pro-life in their own life and other people's

lives.

[Selwynn]

4. How do you "kick someone out" of the pary?

[Sean Reynolds]

5. We'd have no party left!

:freak:

[quinnox]

6. There is room for them in the party

The Democrats have conservative and moderate members too, though you wouldn't know it a lot of the time from DU.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. What's with all the posts about guns and pro-life?

Is this a hobby of yours?

[Forkboy]

9. He's just a concerned moderate

[BallaFaseke]

13. I'm not pro-life

Just pro-gun.

Abortion is a personal decision. So is owning the gun of my choice.

[Lizz612]

8. NO!

I know plenty of liberal Catholics whose SOLE disagreement with the Democratic party is abortion. They are otherwise just as liberal as I, some are even more! My b/f is Catholic and socialist and probably wouldn't vote if the Dems "kicked him out".
By the way, how do you kick someone put of a party?

[MrSoundAndVision]

10. That's not a very Democratic thing to suggest

And it's a ridiculous thing to suggest. The only people who should be ousted from the Democratic party are those who don't respect Democratic principles. Pro-life is not un-Democratic party. Letting your Pro-life stance discourage the Democratic process of a person's right to choose: enforcing your pro-life view on someone who is pro-choice is antidemocratic, as would be the inverse. The right way to convey and encourage a pro-life stand is through education and civil conversation (I'm pro-choice by the way).

[arcane1]

11. why?

:shrug:

[Monte Carlo]

12. Now's the time to bring people in, not throw them out, thank you very much

We can have the cleansing later.

[Mikimouse]

14. Absolutely not, that would lead to a terribly one-sided, and

therefore terribly biased pespective. We need Democrats of all ilks to provide balance. Like most things that can be placed on a continuum, nothing exists as an absolute, and our platforms must be based on an open minded approach. Without both sides represented, open, honest and fruitful intellectual debate is not possible.

[MartinAmbroseForan]

15. No

[AP]

16. never mind.

...

[Malva Zebrina]

17. My only question would be to ponder why they are

so called, pro life, not anti-choice and still support the Democratic party. Makes no sense. There has got to be a religious committment here. And that committment, imo, joins hands with the religious right. Sorry but that is the way it comes off. And those who do have that committment and at the same time profess to be progressive are a little bit confused, it seems to me. Makes no sense to me given the religious right and it's comittment to the stupid moniker of "pro-life" which is really anti-women. Why would any and how can any really join arms with the religious right on this?

[redqueen]

21. Well I'll try to explain

At first I wasn't even going to post to this thread, because it's so over-the-top. I've seen freeper types do it to the Republican party, though, so ... anyway. Your post made me want to add my two cents.

I'm was born into a family of Democrats, and I'm a Democrat and always have been, and have voted straight ticket most elections. However, I'm not strictly pro-choice.

I'm not pro-life, either, since by definition, those people think *anything and everything* that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting is abortion (that includes birth control pills among other methods of birth control).

I'm spiritual, but not religious. Maybe it's the spiritual side of me that thinks that abortion is necessary in these times, but that we should work towards making that option obsolete, through better and more accessible methods of birth control and more opportunities and equal pay for women.

I hope this doesn't, in your eyes, seem like I'm 'joining arms with the religious right'. I just happen to believe that at some point before birth, that the fetus becomes its own person.

Ready for the flames...

[mandyky]

18. Absolutely not

We don't kick anyone out. Do we?

[AnnabelLee]

19. Locking

This thread was started by a disruptor who has since been banned.

AnnabelLee
DU Moderator

[Q]

20. I prefer to call them 'anti-choice' or 'anti-abortion'...

...the 'pro-life' label comes from RWing progandists trying to frame the debate.

- Pro-choice...the right of the woman to have control over her own body and future...is a Democratic principle that shouldn't be taken lightly.

- Anti-choicers shouldn't leave the party...but they have to realize we're not going to change our long-standing platform just for them.