Representative Nancy Pelosi pushed back Tuesday on the idea that Democratic candidates must support abortion rights.
Democrats’ main goal in 2018 is winning back the House, so the party should be less concerned with one candidate’s views on one issue, the House minority leader argued at a question-and answer session with Georgetown University students in Washington, D.C.
“I get some heat for saying that not everybody has to be [pro-choice],” Pelosi said at the event. “When the day comes when we can say we don’t want any of our voters to be anti-choice, then I think we’d have a right to say that we don’t want any of our candidates to be anti-choice.”
“This isn’t a pragmatic decision, it’s just a respectful decision,” she added.
If both the Democrat and Republican in a race were against abortion, the party would support the Democrat, Pelosi stated, “in order to get that gavel to protect all the other rights that we have.”
Pelosi, a Roman Catholic who frequently touts both her faith and her pro-choice stance, promised that despite tolerating pro-life candidates, the Democratic party in general will fight for abortion rights.
“I know this is touchy on this campus, on all Catholic campuses,” Pelosi told the crowd of Georgetown students. “But the fact is, God gave us all the free will….I am a rabid supporter of a woman’s right to choose and a similar issue of the LGBT community, because they are connected.”
“Having said, ‘No litmus test,’ it’s a very high priority for us to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Pelosi added. “We will have a pro-choice gavel when we win the Congress.”
Pelosi backed pro-life Democratic representative Dan Lipinski of Illinois in his difficult primary this year, despite the national party’s pointed lack of support for his candidacy and an active effort by liberal interest groups to defeat him.