Pelosi: Abortion ‘Fading as an Issue’ That Divides Democrats

In an interview with The Washington Post, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic Party does not need to toe the party line on abortion. “This is the Democratic Party. This is not a rubber-stamp party,” Pelosi said. She also suggested that the party's rigidity on social issues contributed to its loss in the 2016 presidential election. “You know what? That’s why Donald Trump is president of the United States—the evangelicals and the Catholics, anti-marriage equality, anti-choice. That’s how he got to be president,” Pelosi said. “Everything was trumped, literally and figuratively, by that.” Pelosi added: “It’s kind of fading as an issue. It really is.” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, later issued a statement clarifying her comments, saying she meant that the issue had ceased to be divisive because “the vast majority of Democrats in Congress are staunchly pro-choice.” “House Democrats recognize, while there are differences in the closest of families about deeply held personal beliefs, legislating those beliefs onto others is a complete non-starter,” Hammill said.