"We are going to be the ones to be right out in front and hopefully the other committees will follow right along," she told the New York Times.
The Democratic Attorneys General Association policy change had been under consideration for three years. Officials with the group said the new rule will attract more diverse candidates and increase the number of women who run for attorney general. In 2017 the association pledged to ensure at least half of the party's attorneys general will be women by 2022.
Sean Rankin, executive director of the association, contended the new requirement will increase "the size of the tent."
"Even in states like Georgia, Texas and Arizona, we've run pro-choice candidates who've done extraordinarily well," he told the New York Times.
While Democratic political candidates used to speak frequently of their support for legal abortion with the caveat that it should be "safe, legal and rare," recent years have witnessed a strong turn within the party against any abortion restrictions.
Democratic presidential primary candidate and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has renounced his support for the Hyde Amendment, which bars most taxpayer-financed Medicaid funds for abortion.
In January a Virginia legislator put forward one of the most radical abortion bills in the country that would have removed most restrictions on second and third trimester abortions, including when the mother was in labor.
Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, explaining the bill on the regional radio station WTOP, said that under the legislation, a baby that survived a botched abortion would be made "comfortable" while the mother and doctor discuss whether or not the baby would be allowed to survive. He sparked a national uproar over his comments.
A New York law just signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo bars employers from enforcing certain codes of conduct or belief in the workplace with regard to "reproductive rights," and requires them to inform employees of their right to abortions without fear of any workplace retaliatory action.
Several plaintiffs have challenged the law, saying it singles out pro-life and religious employers by refusing to exempt them. It forces these organizations to employ people who may have publicly defied the mission of an organization, such as a church employee who publicly opposes the teachings of that church on abortion or marriage.
Cuomo has also signed a law requiring contraceptive and abortifacient coverage in employee health plans and a law strengthening legal abortion in the event federal legal precedent is overturned or modified.
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In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a measure requiring public universities to provide free access to drug-induced abortions for students and free abortion counseling services.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.