Pro-lifers insist on ‘inclusion’ in party

BOSTON — More than 100 pro-life Democrats rallied here yesterday to demand “respectful inclusion” in Democratic leadership.

“Pro-life Democrats have been silent too long,” said Kristen Day, executive director of the American Democrats for Life of America (ADLA).

A recent poll showed that 43 percent of Democrats oppose most or all abortions. With this kind of support, “we want respectful inclusion” in the party leadership, Ms. Day said.

Being pro-life is a winning position for Democrats and can help rebuild the Democratic majority in the House, she added. Pro-life seats are held by Republicans, “and those seats are ours for the taking.”

However, when it comes to the Democratic leadership and a divergent position on abortion, “there’s no room at the inn,” said Raymond Flynn, ambassador to Vatican, former mayor of Boston and early booster of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Carol Crossed, president of the ADLA, said the group has pushed to have a pro-life speaker at the Democratic convention this week. But despite some promises, “it hasn’t happened yet,” she said.

There’s no dearth of pro-life Democrats who could speak, said Rep. Charles W. Stenholm, Texas Democrat, who addressed the rally at Faneuil Hall yesterday. “There’s about 40 of us in Congress,” he said.

“We’re here in Boston to be heard and to be represented,” Sen. Ben Nelson, Nebraska Democrat and longtime pro-life advocate, told the rally.

Ms. Crossed said her group also was thwarted in its bid to make the party live up to its “safe, legal and rare” platform on abortion. A poster at the rally made the group’s point: “Safe, legal and rare. How rare is 4,200 a day?”

Pro-life leaders were sobered by news that feminist leaders had said this week that they would expect a Kerry administration to appoint three or more “pro-choice” justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There shouldn’t be a litmus test on justices, Mr. Flynn said. The demand shows the “single-issuedness” of the feminists, Ms. Crossed said.

On Monday night, a dinner hosted by the ADLA was held at the Massachusetts Statehouse and attended by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Rep. Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrat. Robert Casey Jr., son of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, a prominent pro-life Democratic leader, made a surprise appearance.

Ms. Crossed said discussions are under way for the Casey family to donate money to start a Democratic pro-life political action committee for 2005.