In an interview with Politico slamming recent failed Democratic Party attempts to appeal to moderate voters by welcoming a big tent on abortion, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards claimed that Democrats’ embrace of an extreme pro-abortion platform is not a political liability and further alleged most people support near-unrestricted abortion rights.

Richards lashed out at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who said earlier this month that the pro-choice position would not be a “litmus test” in the committee’s decision to back candidates for next year’s midterms.

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“It’s a shocking sort of misunderstanding of actually where the country is … which is overwhelmingly supportive of abortion rights and also, who are the ground troops that kind of fuel the election of candidates,” Richards told Politico.

Her claims, however, are not supported by the facts.

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A Pew Poll published last month revealed that a majority, 57 percent, of Americans believed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40 percent thought it should be illegal in most or all cases. That’s hardly a populace “overwhelmingly” in favor of abortion.

And while 75 percent of Democrats did indicate support for legal abortion, 36 percent of conservative or moderate Democrats — and 22 percent of Democrats overall — thought that abortion should always or almost always be illegal.

Furthermore, other data suggest that those Americans who do favor legal abortion are not in favor of the extreme pro-choice positions of the Democratic Party or its support for Planned Parenthood.

A January 2017 survey by the polling company inc./WomanTrend found that a majority of voters in five key 2018 battleground states — Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin — opposed funding Planned Parenthood with taxpayer money. Majorities in those same five states as well as the crucial state of Florida indicated they were less likely to support a senator who votes in favor of Planned Parenthood.

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Politico published Richard’s interview on the same day Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law a bill preventing taxpayers from having to fund abortion through their health insurance plans.

“As a firm believer in Texas values, I am proud to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child,” Gov. Abbott said. “This bill prohibits insurance providers from forcing Texas policyholders to subsidize elective abortions. I am grateful to the Texas legislature for getting this bill to my desk, and working to protect innocent life this special session.”

(photo credit, homepage and article images: Lorie Shaull, Flickr)