In 1989, Philadelphian Rob Jordan came out as gay. And this summer, he came out as a pro-life Republican.
The 53-year-old recently spoke with The Philadelphia Inquirer about why he left the Democratic Party and why he no longer supports Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion chain.
Jordan said his father was a Republican politician in Pennsylvania and his mother was a Democrat, so he grew up in a politically mixed household. When he came out as gay as a young adult, he said he felt like he should be a Democrat. He said he began donating to Planned Parenthood and Democratic campaigns.
More recently, though, the growing extremism of the Democratic Party on abortion has turned off Jordan and many other voters.
“… it was the 2008 election that really started getting my mind thinking, why am I just thinking this way? Why am I not thinking for myself?” he said.
Looking to the 2020 presidential election, Jordan said one of the most important issues for him is abortion.
According to the interview:
What is an issue that’s important to you and informing your vote in 2020?
I’ve come to be very pro-life. That is something I really admire — the administration putting two pro-life Supreme Court justices up. In the beginning, I thought Planned Parenthood was great. I gave money to it, and now I’m totally against it. I really do think it was because I was told what to believe and now I’m thinking for myself.
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So it was like an ideological coming out for you?
Yes, that’s right. I don’t like any one group or newspaper telling me what to think and how to feel.
Jordan is not alone. Last year, Quincy, Massachusetts Mayor Thomas P. Koch announced his plans to leave the Democratic Party because of its pro-abortion stance as well. The popularity of the hashtag #WalkAway also is a sign of voters’ growing disenchantment with the party’s abortion politics.
He recently began a Philadelphia chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, which welcomes LGBTQ Republicans and allies like himself, according to the report.
The Democratic Party has become increasingly radical and out of touch with voters on the abortion issue. The party platform now calls for full support of abortion for any reason up to birth as well as taxpayer funding of abortions, though both are widely unpopular positions among voters.
The party’s top donor recently said he will not donate to Democrat candidates who are pro-life.
And the top candidates hoping to challenge President Donald Trump next fall – including Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris – want to force taxpayers to pay for abortions, allow abortions for basically any reason up to birth and end laws requiring that underage girls tell their parents before getting one.
Polls consistently show that most voters do not support these radical pro-abortion positions. A February poll by Marist University found a startling, double-digit shift in the number of Democrats who identify as pro-life. The poll came right after Democrats defended infanticide and abortions up to birth.
Polls show strong opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions as well. A 2016 Harvard University poll found that only 36 percent of likely voters support overturning the Hyde Amendment and forcing Americans to fund abortions. A January poll by Marist University found similarly strong opposition, with 75 percent saying they oppose taxpayer-funded abortions.
