Democrats For Life of America - History

History

In 1999, Democrats for Life of America was founded to coordinate, at a national level, the efforts of pro-life Democrats.

In the 1960s and 1970s, pro-life Democrats comprised a substantial portion of the Party's membership in the United States Congress and the United States Senate. Some Democratic Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates ran for those offices as pro-life, including Hubert Humphrey and Sargent Shriver. Others were once pro-life before running, such as Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. In the 1980s, the influence of pro-life advocates in the Democratic Party declined slowly but considerably. At the 1992 Democratic National Convention, pro-life Governor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania was allegedly "barred from addressing the Convention because of his antiabortion views." The official reason given by the Convention organizers was that Casey was not allowed to speak because he did not support the Democratic ticket. Kathy Taylor, a pro-choice activist from Pennsylvania, instead addressed the Convention. Taylor was a Republican who had worked for Casey's opponent in the previous gubernatorial election. Several pro-life Democrats did address the delegates in 1992, though they did not address the pro-life stance, and were not given prominent prime time slots. Governor Casey's son Bob Casey, Jr., also a pro-life Democrat, spoke during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.