How does Democratic Socialism affect the family?
Prominent Democratic politicians increasingly embrace the credo of Democratic Socialism. They include New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, and Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley.
Press coverage of Democratic Socialism typically focuses on economic issues. For example, Mr. Momdani calls for free bus rides and city-owned grocery stores. Less attention has been placed on how Democratic Socialism sees the family unit.
American socialists convened in Chicago in July for their annual conference. Here’s where they stand on the family issues that concern Pulse Life Advocates:
FAMILY: “Socialist analysis makes clear that the nuclear family form is an inherently repressive, racist, and hetero-sexist institution that functionally reinforces and reproduces capitalism.” Marriage and sex work are “two sides of the same coin.” “In addition to the abolition of family policing [government-run child protective services], we argue for abolition of the family in general and say that the institution of the family acts as part of the carceral system in that it reinforces children as property.” “When we talk about family abolition…we’re talking about the abolition of the economic unit. It is a horizon … in which all of our material needs are taken care of by the collective.”
ABORTION: “The anti-abortion movement is stepping up their attacks on abortion access, providers and people seeking care are being criminalized, and patients are dying from pregnancy complications, unable to access emergency care.” Said one participant named Steve, “I’m also a Baptist minister, and on that revolutionary horizon, I want to perform abortions at a church before it’s all said and done.”
FAMILY POLICING: “Since chattel slavery, state violence has regulated reproduction, evolving into institutions like family policing, which disproportionately targets marginalized communities under the guise of child protection. Using a reproductive justice framework, this session examines how surveillance, punishment, and control in family policing perpetuate reproductive oppression, undermining autonomy and justice.”
GENDER: “The far-right in the US and abroad has placed gender at the center of fascist politics, obsessing over trans rights, abortion, and the birthrate and attacking the very presence of the word gender in federal administration and universities.”
A speaker from the University of Minnesota, professor Melanie Yazzie, summed up what American socialism calls for at the Socialism 2025 conference:
https://x.com/MarinaMedvin/status/1941456225033728366
“I hope to dismantle the United States. I hope you seek to dismantle the United States … Decolonization is the only thing that will save us.”
If you believe Democratic Socialism is a fringe movement, 2000 attended this conference. A YouGov survey shows that 62 percent of young Americans under 30 have a “favorable view of socialism. Another 34% view communism favorably.
Democratic Socialism pits itself in direct opposition to the Catholic Church’s view of the family, as presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2685 The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the “domestic church” where God’s children learn to pray “as the Church” and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church’s living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.
Pope John Paul II put it this way:
“The future of humanity passes by way of the family.”
The great Christian evangelist, Billy Graham, expressed the primacy of marriage and family in clear terms:
“God knew that children grow and mature best in a stable, loving family, and this was one reason He gave marriage to us.”
Democratic socialism goes far beyond mere economic policy suggestions. Its followers have placed a bullseye on the traditional family unit.
