Draft Dem Platform Vows to Keep ‘Fighting’ Parents over Porn and Promotes Abortion, Trans ‘Care’

The Democratic National Convention meets next week to nominate Kamala Harris for president, drawing renewed scrutiny to the party’s platform. Last month, the Democratic Party released a draft of its 2024 platform that vows to nationalize abortion-on-demand across all 50 states, support taxpayer-funded abortion, protect the predatory transgender industry, and continue “fighting” against parents who seek to keep pornography out of their children’s school libraries.

The draft platform, released on July 13, places a high premium on abortion and extreme gender ideology. “The word abortion is mentioned 13 times. [The concept of] reproductive rights is mentioned 14 more times. The term LGBTQI+ is mentioned 35 times. Climate change, or climate in the context of climate change, occurs over 70 times,” said Brent Keilen, vice president for Strategic Initiatives at the Family Research Council, on Tuesday’s episode of “Washington Watch.”

“But I could not find one mention of the word God in the platform draft,” noted Keilen. “I also couldn’t find one mention of the word Christian.”

The draft platform, clearly drafted under the assumption Joe Biden would be the presidential nominee, states:

“With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national legislation to make Roe [v. Wade] the law of the land again. … We will repeal the Hyde Amendment. And in his second term, President Biden will continue to support access to FDA-approved medication abortion, appoint leaders at the FDA who respect science and appoint judges who uphold fundamental freedoms.”

The document boasts of the Biden-Harris administration’s executive branch actions to distribute the abortion pill in local pharmacies and compelling taxpayers to fund abortions for currently enlisted military women and veterans, which Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby called America’s “foundational sacred obligation.”

“Democrats will fight to make the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land,” although the never-ratified ERA has been interpreted to codify both a constitutional right to abortion and women’s eligibility for the military draft.

That vision conflicts with the Republican platform, and numerous Republican spokespeople, who have begun “promoting [the right to life] as a states’ rights issue. The Democrat[ic] Party platform draft does not list that as their position. It does not want states to even have the ability to protect life in any form or fashion. It actually goes after the states who have instituted any type of pro-life laws since the Dobbs decision,” said Keilen. “They leave nothing to guess about where they stand, what they want to see passed.”

“The Democrats are going to make this a federal issue and force it upon states, and the Republicans need to wake up to that reality,” agreed former Congressman Jody Hice, the guest host of “Washington Watch.”

A future Kamala Harris administration could continue nationalizing the fight against concerned parents, as well. The draft 2024 Democratic Party platform pledges to keep “fighting book bans that censor LGBTQI+ content,” by which they mean parents’ attempts to place graphic novels containing graphic depictions of sodomy in an age-protected part of the library.

“We’ve seen the parental rights issue become a really big issue over the last few years. The platform does talk about parents, but never really in the context of parental rights and wanting to make sure that those are safeguarded,” said Keilen.

The platform also takes aim at laws such as the SAFE Act, which protects minors from experimental treatments, transgender surgeries, and sterilizing hormonal injections. Trump “and his MAGA Republican allies have pushed a tidal wave of extreme anti-LGBTQI+ bills in statehouses across the country,” it states.

The Biden-Harris administration, it boasts, “protected transgender Americans’ access to health care and coverage including gender-affirming care” and is “combating the dangerous and cruel practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’” the platform continues. It also blasts President Donald “Trump’s un-American ban on transgender servicemembers.”

The draft platform also mentions the Biden-Harris commitment to fighting “hate crimes,” noting, “The Justice Department is taking an all-of-department approach to protecting LGBTQI+ rights.”

“LGBTQI+ Americans continue to inspire and bring hope to all people,” asserts the platform.

The draft touts Biden’s signature of the so-called “Respect for Marriage” Act, a sweeping piece of federal legislation requiring all states to recognize a marriage license issued in any other state, effectively imposing same-sex marriage nationwide. The DNC also pledges to “make federally-funded seniors programs LGBTQI+ inclusive.”

Faith is muted in the 2024 draft platform, which nevertheless mentions a few worldviews. The section on freedom of religion notes the Biden-Harris administration’s actions to combat anti-Semitism and “Islamophobia.”

The Democratic Party platform makes no specific mention of, or promise to, faithful Christians.

The section contains one generic statement that “Democrats will protect the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion for everyone, and we will maintain the separation of church and state.” The reference to “separation of church and state” is the only time the platform uses the word “church.”

The situation seems reminiscent of 2012, when conservative critics noted that Barack Obama’s reelection platform did not contain the word “God.” Ultimately, the Democratic National Committee resorted to unpopular procedural means to reinsert the Creator of the Universe into the platform, drawing boos from party delegates. “It looks like maybe we’ll be seeing the same thing play out this year,” Keilen told Hice on Tuesday.

Both parties have gradually secularized their pitch to voters, whom polls show are less committed to faith and church attendance than at any time in modern history. “Even the Republican platform basically reduced God to an adjective that’s only mentioned a couple of times,” noted Hice. “So, on both sides, that’s pretty alarming.”

Despite the fact that the 80-page draft Democratic Party platform leans heavily into social issues, the DNC’s press release mentioned the party’s position on abortion in only one sentence, saying Democrats “will pass a law codifying” Roe v. Wade (which is mentioned twice) “and support access to FDA-approved medication [e.g., chemical] abortion.”

The Democratic National Committee contrasted its platform adoption with the narrow, stifling, controlled process that watered down the GOP’s historic commitment to protect life at the 2024 Republican National Committee in Milwaukee. (This author interviewed multiple people present at the meeting; you can read the article here.) “Donald Trump and the RNC crafted an extreme MAGA Platform behind closed doors,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “Our Drafting Committee incorporated a diverse set of expertise and perspectives, inviting Democrats from across the nation to participate in our process and contribute to our Platform. The breadth and depth of this Platform is rooted in our collective experience and reflects a bold agenda that affirms Democrats’ commitment to protecting fundamental freedoms.”

The two competing national platforms show one party dedicated to making abortion an integral part of America’s national covenant, while the other party endorses the notion of protecting life in some instances.

“The contrast couldn’t be clearer,” said Harrison.