At a recent campaign event, South Bend Mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.) told a woman who identified as a pro-life Democrat that her views on abortion are not welcome in the Democratic Party, as the Daily Wire reports.
Describing herself as a “pro-life Democrat,” Kristin Day addressed Buttigieg by asking him if he wanted “the support of pro-life Democrats,” of which she said there are about 21 million in the country. She also asked if would support “more moderate platform language in the Democratic Party to ensure that the diversity and inclusion really does include everybody.”
Buttigieg responded by saying that while he wanted her vote, he would not “try to earn your vote by tricking you.” Buttigieg then described himself as “pro-choice” and said that “a woman ought to be able to make that decision.” He added that “the best I can offer is that if we can’t agree on where to draw the line, the next best thing we can do is agree on who should draw the line, and in my view it’s the woman who’s faced with that decision in her own life.”
Day later spoke to Fox News’ Chris Wallace, where she admitted that she was not satisfied with Buttigieg’s answer, particularly in regards to the question about the language of the Democratic Party’s platform. Day said that the current platform “contains language that basically says that we don’t belong, we have no part in the party…and there’s nothing that says that people who have diversity of views on this issue should be included in the party.”
The incident highlights growing divisions in the country on the hot-button issue of abortion, where the majority of Americans are shifting gradually towards pro-life instead of pro-choice. A major development in the pro-life movement occurred on Friday, when President Donald Trump became the first sitting president in American history to speak in-person at the March for Life.