Senator Kirsten Gillibrand D., N.Y., addresses the crowd after receiving news of her reelection in New York City, N.Y., November 6, 2018. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters )

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand suggested that opposition to abortion is akin to racism.

Gillibrand, who continues to linger near the very bottom of the pack of Democrats running for the 2020 presidential nomination, has stated that she plans to impose a litmus test on all of her judicial nominees, should she be elected. When asked whether that choice would threaten judicial independence, here’s how Gillibrand replied:

I think there’s some issues that have such moral clarity that we have as a society decided that the other side is not acceptable. Imagine saying that it’s okay to appoint a judge who’s racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic. Telling– asking someone to appoint someone who takes away basic human rights of any group of people in America, I don’t think that those are political issues anymore.

The senator next claimed that she respects “the rights of every American to hold their religious beliefs true to themselves,” but went on to suggest that the principle of “separation of church and state” demands that “ultra-radical conservative judges and justices” not “impose their faith on Americans.”

“There is no moral equivalency when you come to racism,” Gillibrand added, “and I do not believe there is a moral equivalency when it comes to changing laws that deny women reproductive freedom.”

Struggling to distinguish herself from her competitors during a contentious primary, Gillibrand has frequently fallen back on over-the-top progressive virtue signaling, trying to position herself as the most “woke” candidate in the field. (Over the weekend, she bartended at a gay bar in Des Moines and marked the occasion with an unfortunate five-second Twitter video of herself drinking and proclaiming, “Gay rights!”)


But Gillibrand’s comments in this interview were more sinister than pandering. For a growing number of activists and politicians on the left, opposing abortion is not only irrational and inexplicable — it is a choice to deny women what they view as a basic human right. With irresponsible, malicious rhetoric like this from Democratic politicians, it’s no wonder our abortion debate seems to become increasingly dysfunctional.

Watch Gillibrand’s remarks here:

