Democrats changed their party platform this year to call explicitly for repealing the Hyde amendment, a longstanding and popular budget measure that prohibits federal funding of abortion for Medicaid recipients except in rare circumstances. Taxpayer-funding of abortion is so unpopular that even many Democrats who support a right to abortion (such as Joe Biden, for example) still support the Hyde amendment. So the change to the platform has put a number of Democrats in a tough spot.

Katie McGinty, the Democrat challenging Republican senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania this year, is the latest candidate to be put on the spot. In an interview at the Pennsylvania press club on Monday, McGinty was asked if she supported repealing the Hyde amendment. She voiced support for the "privacy" of women seeking abortions, but she never said if she supports repealing the Hyde amendment, which would result in unlimited federal funding of elective abortions for Medicaid recipients.

McGinty's campaign did not respond to an email from THE WEEKLY STANDARD asking where the candidate stands on the issue. In interviews, she has often touted her Catholic faith. "McGinty, who was raised in an Irish Catholic family and remains religious today, often speaks about rebuilding the middle class and expanding education and economic opportunities for everyone," Penn Live reported in April. "'I believe deeply in the dignity of every single human being and I believe that every person has unique gifts given to them by God,' she said. 'We are poorer (to) the degree to which anyone is deprived opportunity.'"

McGinty currently leads Toomey 43.3 percent to 40.7 percent in the Real Clear Politics average of polls.