“Everybody Loves Raymond” star Patricia Heaton, who is staunchly pro-life, is wondering why any pro-life voter — liberal or otherwise — would want to join the Democratic Party, given its “barbaric platform that champions abortion.”
Heaton posted the tweets one day after Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Tuesday pro-life Democrats have a place in her political party.
“I don’t understand why pro-life people want to know if they are ‘welcome’ to join the Democrat Party,” she wrote. “Why would any civilized person want to support a barbaric platform that champions abortion for any reason through all nine months funded by taxpayers?”
“P.S.,” she added, “I didn’t vote in the last presidential cycle and will not be voting in this one. I am not a Trump supporter.”
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Klobuchar told co-host Meghan McCain that, unlike many of her fellow progressive candidates, she believes “there’s room for pro-life people” in the Democratic Party.
Ahead of the presidential primary in New Hampshire Tuesday, Klobuchar made a similar comment to a pro-life voter:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is also competing for the Democratic presidential nomination and walked away with a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary, said recently it is “absolutely essential” for Democrats to be pro-abortion.
“I think being pro-choice is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat, if you’re asking me,” he said during a candidate forum in New Hampshire on Saturday, after being asked by a moderator if there is “such a thing as a pro-life Democrat in your vision of the party.”
Sanders was echoing the words of Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In 2017, he said Democratic support for abortion “is not negotiable,” indicating pro-life voters are not welcome in his political party.
The issue was raised during a town hall event on Fox News in late January, when presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was told by a voter she has “no part” in her own party as a Democrat because she is pro-life. Days later, on “The View,” Buttigieg refused to draw any sort of line on when abortion should be accessible during a tense exchange with McCain.
After making clear he would not seek to outlaw even partial-birth abortion, McCain told the 37-year-old Democrat that such a position “is going to hurt you in the middle of the country with the Republicans you’re trying to win over.”