Progressive activist launches presidential bid to protest Biden's stance on abortion

Progressive activist Terrisa Bukovinac has thrown a wrench into the mainstream media's abortion narrative time after time and is now doing so in presidential proportions after launching a bid to unseat President Biden over his stance on the hot-button issue.

"President Biden is a collaborator in a genocide. He once stood for the dignity of unborn children and yet now, not only has he become complicit in all of this, he is the top promoter of late-term abortion in this nation and around the globe, and he's not fit to lead," she told FOX News Digital on Monday.

"In other elections, it's felt like a choice between one [candidate] or the other. It's never been that way," she urged pro-life Democrats. "You do not have to give them aid. You don't have to give aid to either candidate. But, this year, you have another option, and it is completely unacceptable under any conditions that we would give aid to a pro-choice Democrat. It is really Democrats who continue to give aid to these pro-choice candidates, even though they consider themselves pro-life, that are allowing this genocide to continue."

The progressive activist, founder of Pro-Life San Francisco and Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), and former president of Democrats for Life of America, threw her hat in the ring last week to call attention to the issue and seek justice for the unborn.

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Terrisa Bukovinac (D) is a pro-life progressive running for the presidency. (Terrisa Bukovinac for President)

Throughout her life, she has espoused progressive political views. She, along with other tenacious progressive activists from various pro-life organizations, have protested often, refusing to leave abortion clinics while speaking with potential patients, marching in front of the Supreme Court and even facing arrests. 

Bukovinac is also associated with two pro-life activists – Lauren Handy and Herb Geraghty – who were among five found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) Act during a "rescue action" at a D.C.-based clinic.

Handy and Geraghty are both members of PAAU and are currently awaiting sentencing.

Bukovinac stands behind her activism and the activism of other pro-lifers, her webpage urging that, in dark times, "We don’t need just another politician. We need an activist."

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Terrisa Bukovinac said her campaign seeks to provide a voice to pro-life Democrats and to the unborn. (Bukovinac for President)

"Throughout my career, I have espoused leftist political views, and that doesn't change in my campaign. This is an authentic campaign. This is who I am. This is what I believe. I believe we cannot end the abortion genocide without banning abortion and without also making birth free and creating an economic environment where parents do not feel that they have to choose between making ends meet and having their unborn child killed, so I will continue to stand for those issues."

When asked if she will support Biden if he is the Democratic Party nominee, she responded with, "absolutely not," saying she refuses to aid a candidate who pushes "genocide."

But the other side of the aisle received some criticism as well, particularly former President Trump, who is currently leading a loaded GOP field of presidential contenders.

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Terrisa Bukovinac speaks at an event as supporters hold up signs behind her. (Bukovinac for President)

"We see Trump basically calling a six-week abortion ban a horrible thing," she said in reference to the former president's attack on a restrictive abortion policy signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Sunshine State.

"And I think most pro-life Americans want to see an actual pro-life candidate," she continued. "I'm the most pro-life candidate for the Democrats or the Republicans, so I think people are encouraged seeing young people stepping up for life."

Because of popular narratives, believing pro-life Democrats exist might be challenging for some.

Catherine Glenn Foster, Bukovinac's campaign manager addressed their absence in media, telling FOX News Digital, "It is time for Democrats to put a pro-life agenda back into their platform. The latest polling shows that one-quarter of Democratic voters consider themselves to be pro-life," she claimed, "and Terrisa is their voice in 2024. Her challenge to the Democratic establishment and the sold-out Biden/Harris administration on the issue of life is exactly what we need in the race for the White House."

Recent surveys show a strong majority of Democrats support abortion in all or some cases, however, including a Gallup survey this year showing 94 percent didn't support an all-out ban. One Pew Research Center poll from 2020 did indicate that approximately 30% of Democrats did not agree with their own party on the issue, however, suggesting opposition to any limitations on the procedure wasn't a universal view.

Several polls show lower percentages for pro-life Democrats including one from Navigator Research indicating that 81% of the party's members surveyed identify as pro-choice while 19% are either pro-life or undecided.

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Thanks to the lack of representation for pro-life progressives, Bukovinac herself has been mischaracterized by the media for her stance on the issue, including one instance in which a Salon article blasted "Republican Karens" who espoused pro-life values. The article's featured image, however, included her, a progressive Democrat. After FOX News Digital alerted Salon of the mistake last year, the outlet changed the image.

But life is bigger than politics, and she values her campaign as an opportunity to represent Democrats who oppose "abortion extremism" in the U.S. but have had no representation from party leadership for so long.

"The time to step up for the unborn is now. We have to move past our fears. Yes, the media is against us, law enforcement is against us. There's so many reasons to feel like you don't want to step up and be seen, but, if you don't, this is going to continue," she said.

"Through my campaign, we can actually give a voice to these children because every dollar that I spend on ads is going to be spent on ads with FCC TV stations in states where I am on the ballot. In those states, they must run my ads completely uncensored, and we have to show the American people what the abortion extremism emanating from the Democratic Party does to unborn children. Together, we can expose human rights atrocities that are happening in nondescript buildings across the nation."

The Biden campaign didn't respond to a request for comment.

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FOX News' Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.