March for Life ad runs ahead of MSNBC Democrat primary debates
One of the nation’s leading pro-life activist groups sponsored a commercial that will run ahead of the Democratic presidential primary debate on MSNBC Wednesday night, telling viewers that the party’s platform is far left of the American consensus on abortion.
The minutelong ad is titled “Consensus” and is the focal point of the six-figure ad-buy from March for Life Action, the organization that hosts the annual demonstration against abortion attended by thousands in the streets of Washington, D.C., each year.
In addition to the MSNBC advertisement that will run in the 8 p.m. ET hour ahead of Wednesday night’s debate among 10 candidates, the commercial will also be featured in a number of digital ad placements.
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The advertisement relies on polling conducted by Marist Institute for Public Opinion on behalf of the pro-life Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus.
Over 1,000 people were surveyed across the U.S. in February for the poll, which found that 8 out of 10 respondents “support restrictions on abortion.”
The ad features a diverse group of women saying the American consensus is that there should be “real legal limits” on abortion in the U.S.
“America has consensus,” the women assert, “8 in 10 Americans agree.”
The advertisement adds that 6 out of 10 respondents that consider themselves to be “pro-choice” agree that “abortion should happen only during the first three months of pregnancy.”
The commercial uses the poll’s finding to suggest that Democrat politicians who support unrestricted access to abortion are out of touch with the majority of pro-choice Americans.
“Many of them want abortion legal,” one woman stresses in the ad. “Right up until birth.”
The commercial states that only about 13% of people support unrestricted access to abortion.
“These pro-choice politicians listen to them, not us,” the women say in the ad.
A number of pro-choice candidates for president have voiced support for eliminating the Hyde Amendment, which blocks tax dollars from being used for abortions.
However, the March for Life ad points to January Marist polling that found that about 75% oppose international taxpayer funding for abortion. The January poll also found that 54% oppose domestic taxpayer funding for abortion.
“It’s time for this extremism to end,” the women in the ad continue. “It’s time for our voices to be heard.”
“It’s time for politicians to stop working for the pro-abortion lobby and join the national consensus,” the ad concludes.
In a statement, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini explained that a decade of research from Marist and Knight of Columbus has shown “how out of touch the Democratic Party establishment has become with Democratic voters when it comes to abortion.”
“While 2020 Democratic candidates are taking more radical stances on abortion by the day, the polling numbers are clear: 60 percent of Democrats want abortion limited to — at most — the first three months of pregnancy,” Mancini said. “A majority of Americans also oppose any tax-payer funding for abortion. The Democratic establishment would do well to listen to the American people — or even just their base — instead of caving into the pressure of the abortion lobby.”
The debates this week come after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren spent her birthday with officials from the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. Warren declared: “What better way to celebrate my birthday than right here with Planned Parenthood.”
Many on social media were quick to chastise Warren, pointing out the irony of her spending her birthday with leaders of an organization that prevents the birth of hundreds of thousands of unborn babies each year.
Earlier this year, Warren issued an action plan on abortion calling for the creation of federal statutory rights that parallel the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.
California Sen. Kamala Harris is also a Planned Parenthood ally who prosecuted pro-life investigators responsible for undercover reporting on Planned Parenthood during her time as California attorney general.
If elected, Harris has vowed to require states with a history of passing restrictions to abortion to seek approval from her Justice Department before they can pass such laws.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a former senator from Delaware, reversed his position this month on taxpayer funding for abortion by rescinding his support for the Hyde Amendment after he previously expressed his support for the budget provision.
As a Roman Catholic who has wrestled with the abortion issue for decades, Biden declared at a Democratic fundraising event this month that “circumstances have changed.”
As for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, he has argued that there is “no middle ground” when it comes to abortion even though Marist’s data would suggest otherwise.
“Abortion is a constitutional right,” Sanders tweeted on June 5. “Under my Medicare for All plan, we will repeal the Hyde Amendment.”
