Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is on a one-woman mission to spread the pro-abortion message and eradicate pro-life bills in red states like Alabama and Georgia. And one of the ways she intends to do that is by letting pro-life Democrats know that their contrarian views will no longer be tolerated.

The Washington Post reports:

— Gillibrand, who met with abortion providers, activists and state legislators before giving her speech, said most Democrats have become more direct when talking about reproductive rights than they were a few years ago. There’s less throat clearing than there used to be. Very few politicians use the “safe, legal, and rare” talking point that was so standard during the Bill Clinton era.

“As a party, we should be 100 percent pro-choice, and it should be nonnegotiable,” Gillibrand said in our interview. “We should not settle for less, and if our party cannot support women’s basic human rights, their fundamental freedoms to make decisions about their bodies and their futures, then we are not the party of women. … I will not compromise on women’s reproductive freedom.”

The senator attributes the more strident tone to the fact that more women are participating in politics, and they are more passionate about protecting their rights than the men who used to call the shots in the party. “I think women’s voices are being heard now more than ever,” said Gillibrand. “Women are feeling self-empowered. I don’t think they’re going to take excuses anymore, and I don’t think they’re going to support candidates that don’t believe they should get to make those fundamentally personal decisions.”

There are four things we learn from this:

1) Democrats have become “more direct” with “less throat clearing” on the issue of abortion because the media lets the get away with their extremism by refusing to critically analyze their positions. And the reason for that is that a majority of mainstream media journalists are either pro-choice Democrats or pro-choice independents who agree with Democratic party.

2) If you’re a pro-life Democrat serving in elected office, you should be primaried, according to Gillibrand. Case in point: Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL-3), who is being targeted by pro-choice groups. Gillibrand has endorsed his primary opponent Marie Newman.

3) Gillibrand, like many other Democrats, refuses to acknowledge that there are a large number of women in the United States who are pro-life. Just because “more women are participating in politics” doesn’t mean it’s because more women want to see abortion remain legal.

4) The Senator has become increasingly desperate for relevance in a crowded field (she’s currently averaging less than 1% in 2020 presidential polling), and wants to be included in the first Democratic primary debates. She hasn’t quite yet met the criteria for being able to do so, so maybe she thinks moving further to the left on abortion will do the trick and bring in more supporters and much-needed donors.

Desperate people do desperate things. And Gillibrand is definitely desperate.

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—Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–