WASHINGTON — Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says that it’s absolutely possible for someone to be a member of the Democratic Party and also be against abortion.
“Of course,” she told Chuck Todd when asked on Sunday’s "Meet The Press."
"I have served many years in Congress with members who have not shared my very positive — my family would say aggressive — position on promoting a woman's right to choose."
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders received backlash this week from abortion-rights groups since they scheduled a rally with a mayoral candidate in Omaha, Nebraska, who previously supported an abortion-related ultrasound bill.
“Why don’t you interview Tom Perez?” Pelosi asked before answering the question. “You’re interviewing me.”
Pelosi’s appearance Sunday coincided with a moment when she has again emerged as a clear target of Republican groups trying to defeat Democratic candidates in special elections for U.S. House seats.
Advertisements from the Congressional Leadership Fund, the Super PAC that’s endorsed by House Republican leadership, are trying to tie Democrats like Jon Ossoff in Georgia and Rob Quist in Montana to what they call her “liberal agenda.”
Pelosi said that those kind of ads show "the bankruptcy of their own initiatives. The voters in their districts want to know what they are going to do for them."
But Pelosi did not shy away from the idea that voting candidates of a certain party into office wouldn’t mean they would frequently adhere to the party leaders.
She reversed the charge against her, and aimed to tie Republican candidates to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“Since you brought it up, and I'm glad you did, I think it's really important for the voters in those districts to know who the candidates will be voting with,” Pelosi said. “Will they be voting with Paul Ryan, who wants to eliminate the guarantee of Medicare, who has voted to privatize Social Security, who's there to dismantle Medicaid? And, so, it's not a question of the person, just as it isn't about the president. It's a question of the policy. So, if you want to vote for someone like Paul Ryan for speaker, and that is a vote to dismantle Medicaid, it is a vote to eliminate the guarantee of Medicare.”
