During a “war on women” panel at the Netroots Nation conference, Washington state Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner spoke of a winning strategy for the liberal crowd — embracing and promoting the concept of being not just pro-choice, but abortion-proud.
Burner identified six points of power — economic, political, military/enforcement, cultural, moral and communication — arguing that the cultural point of power is significant to opening the possibilities for political change. (VIDEO: Van Jones: Left-wingers no longer ‘in love’ with Obama)
“If you are a woman in this room — and statistically what I am about to say is true of about a third of the women in this room — if you’re a woman in this room who has had an abortion and is willing to come out about it, please stand up,” Burner said attempting to demonstrate her point. “Now, if you are willing to stand with every woman who is willing to come out about having had an abortion, please join them and stand up.”
Conservative blogger Melissa Clouthier, who in attendance, reported that nearly everyone stood.
“This is how we change the stories in people’s heads,” Burner explained, adding that “we need to make it okay for women to come out about the choices that we’ve made.”
According to Clouthier, the spirit in the room was one of celebration for abortion.
“The left will say that they’re not pro-abortion, they’re pro-choice or they’re pro-women,” Clouthier wrote. “It was clear, though, that abortion itself was elevated as something good and something to be celebrated.”
See the full speech:
Burner was the opening speaker for a keynote session featuring speeches by Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and Hawaii Democratic Rep. Mazie Hirono. They were followed by a panel discussion moderated by the Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel, Alternet reported.