Looking past Roe: Can ‘pro-life Democrats’ still find home in party? – By Jessica Mendoza (CS Monitor) / Feb 4 2020
Are abortion rights now a litmus test for the Democratic Party? Democrats who oppose abortion say they feel like they must choose between their religious beliefs and their chosen political identity.
At first glance, they appear to be among the most endangered political species in America. Only four are left in Congress. The very term – “pro-life Democrat” – sounds like an oxymoron. And their existence often triggers heated debate within their party, their position shunted to the side in ways they say they did not experience even a decade ago.
Yet a case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 4 shows their enduring power. At the heart of June Medical Services LLC v. Gee is Act 620, a measure written by a Democratic lawmaker from Louisiana and signed into law by that state’s Democratic governor. Act 620 requires doctors who provide abortions to gain admitting privileges – or legal permission to admit patients – at a hospital within 30 miles of their abortion clinic.
If the high court finds the law constitutional, Louisiana will be left with only one abortion provider. It could also, critics say, set a standard that would all but remove the right to abortion access.
Which is what the law’s author, state Sen. Katrina Jackson, has advocated her whole career.
“I plan on standing with our attorney general to argue in favor of this law,” she said in a phone interview with the Monitor in 2019. “I will be taking calls from people, responding to emails, talking to my colleagues, posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and trying to encourage everyone to take the pro-life stance. It’s what I always do.”
Continue to article: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0204/Looking-past-Roe-Can-pro-life-Democrats-still-find-home-in-party
