(CNSNews.com) – On a day when President Biden in a combative speech lumped opposition to abortion with other purported characteristics of the “extremism” represented by “MAGA Republicans,” a DNC Twitter post on the subject prompted a plaintive question from the advocacy group Democrats for Life of America: “What about pro-life Democrats?”
The DNC post featured a comparison graphic with the words, “REPUBLICANS want to pass a national abortion ban / DEMOCRATS want to codify Roe.”
“This is the choice on the ballot,” the tweet read. “No matter how hard MAGA Republicans try to scrub their extreme positions from their campaign websites.”
In response, Democrats for Life tweeted, “What about pro-life Democrats? Is there space for us in the Big Tent?”
“And the legislation that some members in our Party are trying to pass goes beyond Roe,” Democrats for Life added, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion until overturned by the court last June.
“Let’s give women and parents, especially in under-served communities, the support they need to carry and raise children.”
In his prime time speech in Philadelphia on Thursday night, Biden declared that “MAGA Republicans” – his chosen term for Republicans supportive of former President Trump, as distinct from “mainstream Republicans” – represent a “threat to American democracy.”
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” he said.
Biden went on to list some of supposed attributes of the Americans he was referring to, including a disrespect for the Constitution, a refusal to “recognize the will of the people” and to “accept the results of a free election” – and a determination to take the country “backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a briefing was asked whether the president viewed efforts to restrict abortion to constitute “semi-fascism” – the term he had used during an August 25 meeting with Democratic donors in connection with the “extreme MAGA philosophy.”
“Does the president believe that the effort to restrict abortion – whether it’s at a local level or the federal level, to restrict that freedom – does he believe that that is ‘semi-fascism’?” a reporter asked.
“He was very clear that MAGA Republicans in Congress have an agenda that is extreme,” Jean-Pierre replied. “And that’s what you hear from them. The national ban on abortion is extreme. And also, it’s not in line with where a majority of Americans are. It is just not. It is taking away people’s rights. It is taking away people’s freedoms.”
When Jean-Pierre went on to talk about inciting violence and “attacking the Capitol,” the reporter tried to bring her back to abortion.
“I guess my question is: The Supreme Court created this space for the anti-abortion movement at the state level and also perhaps at the federal level to try and restrict this freedom. Where do they fit into all of this?” he asked. “How would the president describe them after that decision? Were they just extremists, or were they, you know, part and parcel of a semi-fascist –”
“Look, here’s what I’ll say,” Jean-Pierre interjected. “We continue to – continue to see attacks on people’s fundamental rights – right? – of Americans, with new abortion laws across the country.”
She said some Republican leaders want to take away the right to abortion even in cases of incest or rape, “and taking away a woman's right to make a decision on her body. That’s extreme.”
“The president is going to call that out. He’s going to continue to do everything that he can to make sure that we protect people’s freedoms,” she said. “He’s going to do everything that he can to call that out.”
Jean-Pierre during the briefing sought to assure reporters that Biden’s address would not be “a political speech.”