Bad taste or smart campaign choice? Burner abortion move sparks strong debate

Is abortion something to be cheered? That’s the question
many are asking after three-time Eastside congressional
candidate Darcy Burner raised plenty of eyebrows when she
called on women at a conference in Rhode Island who’ve had
an abortion to stand up.

“If you are a woman in this room who has had an abortion
and is willing to come out about it, please stand up,” she
said. A few did.

“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,” she said. This statement was
followed by
applause.

Afterwards, Burner was unapologetic about bringing such a
controversial and personal issue to the forefront.

“The right has made this a shameful thing we’re not
allowed to talk about,” said the candidate who previously
lost twice to Congressman Dave Reichert and is now running
in the newly revamped 1st district.

“There are people who don’t want them to be able to stand
up, who don’t want people to stand with them, are people
who want to shame them into silence and it’s long past
time we stop giving in to them,” Burner told KING 5.

It’s a new political tactic critics say could backfire.

“The vast majority of the population does not think it’s
something to be proud of,” said Joseph Backholm of the
Family Policy Institute.

“I don’t think you’ll ever be successful at getting women,
in general, to be celebrating these things,” he said.
“They obviously always come out of very sensitive and
difficult circumstances,” Backholm told KING 5.