Michael Sean Winters: “Democrats for Life’s efforts work in two directions. On the one hand, it tries to convince the bigwigs in the Democratic Party to be more open to pro-life concerns. A 2009 Pew Survey indicated that 31 percent of all Democrats believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, and 57 percent think that reducing the number of abortions is a good public policy goal. “My hope is that DFLA will unite and ultimately fully enfranchise around one-third of the Democratic Party [pro-life Democrats] and bring millions of pro-life moderates and progressives back into the party,” said Democrats for Life fellow Robert Christian. “I hope DFLA can help to rebuild the Democratic Party around its commitment to economic and social justice, returning it to majority party status, by eliminating the disproportionate influence of pro-choice absolutists.”

On the other hand, Day and her organization encourage the pro-life movement to broaden its focus. “There is a problem that when you talk about pro-life, you are only talking about abortion,” Day said. “It can’t be that protecting the unborn is enough. It isn’t.” She notes that certain Republican budget proposals would cut funding for anti-malaria programs that save millions of lives in poor countries. “That’s not being pro-life.”