Abortion as an issue once cut through the Democratic and Republican Parties, with members from each championing protections for preborn infants and their mothers. The Hyde Amendment, which limits federal spending for abortion to cases of rape, incest, or when a mother's life is in danger, first passed the U.S. House by 312 to 93 in 1976. That's ancient history today, when not even ending infanticide can get sufficient numbers in both chambers to send a bill for signature to President Donald Trump. This fact should send shock waves through anyone who cares whether the Democratic Party survives.
When the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act faced members of the U.S. House and Senate last month as the anniversary of Roe v. Wade came and went, only one Democrat—Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas—had the courage to say that a baby born during a botched abortion deserved the same level of medical care that a child born in any other setting would receive.
Voters agree. Less than 1 in 10 registered Millennial and Gen Z voters (almost half of the electorate) support the current position of the Democratic Party—abortion without limits up to and including infanticide if born during a botched abortion. This statistic comes from a January 2025 Students for Life & Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement YouGov/SurveyUSA poll that examined policy expected to come up during the Trump administration.
Almost 9 in 10 young voters believe that a baby born during a botched abortion should receive help, and nearly seven in 10 (66 percent) wanted 911 to be called when an aborted child is born alive.
Yet the Democratic Party caucus stood almost completely united in supporting even infanticide, as that's what the abortion lobby wanted.
In 2023, then-vice president Kamala Harris said ending infanticide was "extreme" and that doing so would "jeopardize the right to reproductive health care in our country." Her sentiments were echoed by those few who likely voted for her, but they were not enough to win her the White House.
Prior to the inauguration, at the People's March, one marcher said that if a baby survives an abortion, infanticide was the right call. The marcher said, "If the person that had the baby doesn't want the baby, they're there to end it, whatever that means."
What that means is that the abortion industry, and its multi-million-dollar political donations, have built a loyal cohort in the party my family once fiercely supported.
In 2024 alone, millions of dollars flowed from the abortion lobby to the Democratic Party, and that money bought something: loyalty. But political loyalty from those seeking office didn't turn into voter loyalty. My family isn't the only one that left a party that once stood for the most vulnerable.
A problem with embracing the death-for-profit enterprise, fueled by national and international abortion vendors lined up for a payday, is the cognitive dissonance that comes when asserting rights for the unborn other than the right to life. Just consider this recent New York Times headline: "Undocumented Women Ask: Will My Unborn Child Be a Citizen?"
The cognitive dissonance around abortion doesn't stop there. Three Democratic presidents manipulated the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to force chemical abortion pills onto the market, and then began deregulating them. In fact, in 2021, on the same day the FDA pulled Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine because six people had suffered blood clots and one person died, the FDA announced that health and safety standards for chemical abortion pills had been dropped.
In the name of preserving abortion access during COVID, the Biden-Harris administration dropped health and safety standards despite the fact that no-test online distribution of chemical abortion pills exposes women to risks of injury, infertility, and even death; empowers sex abusers with easy access to the drugs; and even creates environmental hazards.
Students for Life Action, my organization, is calling on the Trump administration to protect water sources from abortion pollution, which is now going unchecked as most chemically tainted blood, placental tissue, and human remains from abortion are flushed away. It's an issue we intend to raise with the FDA, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Health and Human Services.
Will the party that prides itself on being a champion of the environment, women's health, and vulnerable groups protect clean water, safety standards for women's health, and our country's most vulnerable—or abortion?
The tough votes are going to keep coming, and the Democratic Party must choose between abortion as its only offering to Americans or an agenda that protects those who want to live in this country we all call home.
Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, with more than 1,500 groups on middle and high school, college and university, medical and law school campuses in all 50 states. Follow her @KristanHawkins or subscribe to her podcast, "The Kristan Hawkins Show."
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
