This year Americans are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which declared the "self-evident" truth that "all men are created equal" and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," including the rights to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
The leaders of the Democratic Party, however, deny this self-evident truth. Take, for example, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
On Jan. 11, 2023, House Republicans brought up the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This very simple and straightforward bill, as explained by its official summary, would have required that when "a child" is "born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion ... a health care practitioner who is present must (1) exercise the same degree of care as would reasonably be provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and (2) ensure the child is immediately admitted to a hospital."
This proposal to protect born babies outraged Jeffries, who saw it as an attack on one of the fundamental principles embraced by his political party.
"As Democrats, we believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions, period, full stop, decisions that should be between a woman, her family, and her doctors, period, full stop," he said on the House floor.
"We believe in Roe v. Wade," said Jeffries. "Do you wonder about our position? That is it. The Women's Health Protection Act, that is it. Freedom to make your own reproductive healthcare decisions; that is it. As compared to a clear effort -- that is what this bill is about today, a march toward criminalizing abortion care, a nationwide ban, government-mandated pregnancies, part of an extreme MAGA Republican agenda."
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That day, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passed the Republican-controlled House 220-210. No Republican voted against it -- but only one Democrat (Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas) voted for it. It did not come up in the then-Democrat-controlled Senate.
The Women's Health Protection Act that Jeffries said his party supported would prohibit, according to its official summary, "governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services" before the viability of the unborn baby. After viability, it would prohibit government restrictions on abortions done to protect a patient's "health."
In other words, it would legalize the killing of unborn babies nationwide.
In opposing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, Jeffries likely feared that if Democrats recognized the unalienable right to life of a newly born baby, they would not be able to defend denying the right to life of that same baby just moments before birth.
Later that same year, when Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was nominated to be speaker of the House, Jeffries went on CNN and accused Johnson of having what he called "extreme views." The primary example of these "extreme views" that Jeffries cited was: "Mike Johnson wants to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban."
When the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act came up in the Senate on Jan. 22, 2025, as this column has noted before, Democrats used the filibuster to block it. "This bill is a metaphor for what is to come: an emboldened, extremist anti-choice resurgence far, far further to the right than the American people are," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on the Senate floor that day about this proposal to protect born babies.
When the House voted on this bill the next day, it passed 217-204 -- but, once again, only one Democrat (Cuellar) voted for it.
Jeffries, of course, voted against it again -- as he had in 2015, 2018 and 2023.
This year on June 24 -- the fourth anniversary of the Supreme Court's opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade -- Jeffries held a press conference with other House Democratic leaders.
"The Dobbs decision was unjust, unacceptable and un-American," he claimed.
"As Democrats, we believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions," Jeffries said. "It's a decision that should be between a woman, her family and her doctor, not right-wing officials trying to jam their extreme ideology down the throats of women throughout the United States of America and their families. And as House Democrats, we will continue to push with the fierce urgency of now to protect the reproductive freedom of women, to stand up and forcefully advocate for the Women's Health Protection Act and all other enlightened pieces of legislation designed to ensure that we are protecting the health and well-being of the women throughout the United States of America."
Schumer also spoke at a press conference marking the fourth anniversary of Dobbs -- and called for abortion to be a defining issue in this year's midterm elections.
"So, Republicans created this horror story," Schumer said. "Democrats won't stand for it. We're going to fight them every step of the way. ... (T)his issue will help us win back the House, win back the Senate."
If Democrats do win control of the House and Senate in this year's midterms -- on the 250th anniversary of American independence -- Jeffries and Schumer are likely to become the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader, respectively. In those roles, they would lead their party in seeking to violate the first principle of the Declaration of Independence by denying unborn babies their unalienable God-given right to life.
To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
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