Democrats Are Pro-Choice — But Not When It Comes To Schools

This week’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago featured a resounding theme: abortion-on-demand. 

A Planned Parenthood “mobile health clinic” was parked outside the convention, with staff members performing one abortion after another. Also, amidst pro-Palestinian protestors and the sea of convention goers, abortion activists parade around dressed in abortion pill costumes.

According to the New York Post, “Outside the van was a food truck, as well as a stand run by the Chicago Abortion Fund where patients could pick up goodie bags filled with face masks, candy, painkillers and cards of affirmation.” Organizers said it was all part of an effort to promote “reproductive healthcare accessibility.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson posted on X: “This is not your parents’ Democratic Party.” Johnson is correct.

Such a callous—and even gleeful—celebration of the taking of innocent human life is a shocking new low.

This is not your parents’ Democratic Party. https://t.co/j4fnJk6olc

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) August 19, 2024

From inside the DNC, speaker after speaker declared the Democratic Party’s pro-choice commitment, which unfailingly brought about wild cheers from those in attendance.

Once espousing making abortion rare, Hillary Clinton’s message on the first night of the convention urged attendees to “keep going” in the fight for “reproductive healthcare,” which has come to mean no restrictions whatsoever on abortion. Ashley Biden, daughter of Joe and Jill, declared, “This is the fight of our lifetime: our freedom, our democracy, our reproductive rights. This, all of this, is on the ballot.” The night ended with Joe Biden’s speech, which included, “You know, Kamala and Tim will do everything they possibly can — that is why you have to elect the Senate and the House — to restore Roe v. Wade.”

Night two wasn’t much different, as former First Lady Michelle Obama warned that Donald Trump would cut healthcare and take away “the freedom to control our bodies.”

Night three included Nancy Pelosi commending Democratic Party presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ policy of “fighting for a woman’s right to choose.” Later in the evening, when vice presidential nominee Tim Walz took his turn on the stage, he fumed that if his opponents get elected they “will ban abortion across this country, with or without Congress.”

Clearly, the Democratic Party is all about the right to choose — to be clear, to choose an abortion that ends the life of an unborn child.

However, when it comes to the right for parents to choose a K-12 education for a child, that is not a freedom the party’s leaders care about — even those who attended a private school themselves or sent their children to a private school.

And it’s not just that they’re not enthusiastic about school choice. Beholden to teachers unions, whose primary objective is to protect union jobs, Democratic Party politicians often do everything in their power to block Americans from the right to choose a school for their children. This even includes preventing families from choosing a different public school within their school district or a neighboring school district. The quality of the education, the safety of students, or the ability of the school to meet the learner’s unique needs are irrelevant. In short, the option to choose a school isn’t considered a right by leaders of the “pro-choice” party.

Of course, this flies in the face of what Barack Obama declared in his nightcap speech on day two of the DNC about the Democratic Party having “a broader idea of freedom” than their political opponents. How can a broader view of freedom include requiring parents to send their children to a failing government-run school for their 13 years of education? How can a broader view of freedom determine that parents can’t be trusted to select the best learning environment for their children? Evidently, the broader idea of freedom is limited to a woman’s choosing to end her child’s life up to the moment of birth.

The contrast with the 2024 Republican Party Platform, released in July, is stark: “Republicans believe families should be empowered to choose the best education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America. We will expand 529 Education Savings Accounts and support Homeschooling Families equally.” 

The commitment to “restore Parental Rights in Education” isn’t just hyperbole. Republican governors and state level elected officials have proven over the past four years their commitment to allowing parents the right to choose the education for their children. 

The COVID response provided a powerful illustration of the difference between the two approaches. Teachers’ unions, in lockstep with Democratic Party leaders, kept public schools closed in some states spanning three school years in order to push irrelevant political demands. Conversely, Republican political leaders listened to parents’ concerns and took steps to advance school choice more than at any time prior in history.

While no states had anywhere close to universal school choice prior to the COVID school closures, today 12 states have enacted universal school choice, allowing all families statewide to choose the education that will best serve their children. Each of those universal school choice laws went into effect in states that at the time had a Republican governor, a Republican majority in the House, and a Republican majority in the Senate (other than North Carolina, where the Republican majority House and Republican majority Senate were able to override the Democratic governor’s veto).

It’s time for all states to recognize parents have the right to choose their children’s education. The two major political parties have made their priorities on “choice” very clear. The choice now is yours as a voter. What kind of right to choose will you choose?

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Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and Director of the American Center for Transforming Education.

The view expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.