By Herb Geraghty

The United States has some of the most extreme permissive laws related to abortion in the world. Since Roe v. Wade, 60 million unique, individual, human lives have been violently destroyed by the procedure. This violence, committed against innocent and defenseless children, is completely legal and often tax-payer funded. The state-sponsored mass murder of this marginalized and dehumanized population must end. However, it is not going to end unless and until we are able to build a broad coalition of activists, educators, artists, and lawmakers from every background dedicated to the abolition of this widespread injustice.

If our goal is truly to make abortion illegal and unthinkable, we are going to need everyone onboard. While it’s certainly important that every conservative Christian understands that abortion is wrong, if they are the only people engaging with this issue then there is a problem. Though it may be one of humanity’s collective flaws, generally speaking, people are just more willing to listen to and understand people who are like them. This is why the continued existence of pro-life Democrats is so vitally important.

According to DFLA, 1 in 3 Democrats identify themselves as pro-life — I am one of these several million Americans. As someone who has had countless conversations with proponents of legal abortion, I can confirm that my best and most successful have been with people with who I was able to demonstrate sameness. People need to see that the right to life is not partisan, and people of all political and ideological positions can defend the human rights of the unborn.

However, simply calling ourselves “pro-life” and “Democrats” is not enough. We also need to act like it and vote like it. While there are certainly other important issues that citizens must consider when casting their ballots that should not be ignored, nothing could possibly justify giving direct support to a politician who promises to use it to expand and fund the brutal violence of abortion.

Until the DNC decides that they care more about justice and the interests of their voters than they care about their big-money corporate donors in the abortion industrial complex: we will not support them. They need us more than we need them.

Pro-life Democrats must stay strong and resist the urge to betray the unborn by voting for the very politicians working to keep them marginalized, dehumanized, and killed. As we look forward to midterms in two years and yet another general election in four, we must regroup and commit ourselves even more deeply to this cause. We cannot think of this as just another political issue as thousands of innocent human lives are taken every day in our own communities. Until the DNC decides that they care more about justice and the interests of their voters than they care about their big-money corporate donors in the abortion industrial complex: we will not support them. They need us more than we need them.

The views expressed by our writers are their own, and do not speak for the organization. For a collection of official DFLA views and mission, please see our website.

Herb Geraghty is the Director of Communications of Rehumanize International, a non-partisan, secular organization dedicated to bringing an end to all aggressive violence against human beings through education, discourse, and action. Herb is a passionate and engaging advocate for the Consistent Life Ethic with an academic background in rhetoric and politics. Herb’s unique position as a young politically independent pro-life atheist has broken down barriers to reach demographics often untapped by the mainstream pro-life movement. Similarly, Herb’s common ground on the abortion issue with many folks on the right has allowed for productive outreach on the issues of war, torture, and the death penalty, Herb has a passion for building bridges and finding common ground with people across the political spectrum to call everyone to a greater consistency in the fight for human rights.