By Peter Laffin
Chicago, Illinois, August 21, 2024 / 6:40 p.m.
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life America, denounced the presence of Planned Parenthood’s “abortion van,” which offered free abortions, vasectomies and emergency contraception right before the Democratic National Convention.
She then immediately called on her organization and allies to roll up their sleeves.
On Monday, the group announced a new diaper drive for local families in need and migrant families. So far, more than $4,000 has been raised.
“The response has been overwhelming,” she told the National Catholic Register on Wednesday. “I feel so blessed to be in this position where we can really help families in need in the community.”
Day’s group, a nonprofit political advocacy group that works to elect anti-abortion Democrats, was scheduled to make its first shipment Wednesday evening at a local pregnancy center, the Chicago Life Center on the South Side.
“We’re very happy to be able to help and provide these diapers,” she said, “because that’s what real Democrats do. They help people.”
Day acknowledges that her idea of a “real” Democrat is not shared by many delegates and politicians at the United Center and McCormick Place in Chicago this week, but she believes that’s all the more reason to work to convey her life message to her fellow Democrats.
“The party has abandoned the pro-life Democrats”
Day and her colleagues are in Chicago, she said, to meet with Democratic Party delegates and activists, to listen to them and to make them understand that a pro-abortion Democratic Party does not speak for them.
“The party has abandoned the pro-life Democrats,” she said. “We don’t want to leave. We love our party and we want it to be strong and inclusive. We want to distribute diapers to those in need. We are the real Democrats.”
In response to the Democrats for Life diaper drive, Day received a flood of stories from women across the country who have been harmed by abortion in the past. They expressed shock and horror that abortion has so far been celebrated as a positive moral good at the DNC. She said many have thanked her for speaking out.
“One woman was 77 years old,” Day said. “She had an abortion decades ago and is still suffering. The DNC’s adulation of abortion is just deeply disturbing. It’s unbelievable how low the party has sunk.”
One moment from Tuesday’s congressional session struck Day as particularly disturbing. Kate Cox, an abortion advocate from Texas who spoke on behalf of the Texas delegation during the session’s calls, recounted her experience of having to leave the state of Texas to have an abortion after her unborn child was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a condition that has a low chance of survival.
“What we overlook in all these tragic stories is that in some cases women are being paraded to show that abortion is a moral good,” says Day, who has worked for decades to strengthen the influence of pro-lifers within the Democratic Party.
“That’s why I think we need to do a better job of educating people and listening to the pro-lifers who have been saving mothers and babies for decades. And we shouldn’t exploit women for political reasons,” Day said.
Day told the Register that she would attend the last two nights of the convention and was open to further discussions with current party members.
(The story continues below)
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“So we continue to fight for our party to do the right thing,” she said.
Peter Laffin is an editor at the National Catholic Register and a writer for the Washington Examiner. His writing has appeared in The Catholic Herald, The Catholic Thing, and RealClearPolitics.
