What's at stake in Minnesota’s Legislative Elections

If you ever wanted to do something that would really make a difference, voting for the pro-life candidates in the upcoming November elections is right up your alley.

Our ability to pass pro-life protections into law is directly linked to the number of pro-life legislators serving in office. For about a decade there was a pro-life majority in the Minnesota Legislature. During that time we were able to make great strides in passing pro-life legislation including:

• Minnesota Abortion Reporting Act —some of the most comprehensive statistics on abortions being performed in the state.
• Woman’s Right to Know Law —a common-sense law that gives women accurate information about fetal development, abortion, its after-affects, and alternatives that help both mother and child.
• Positive Alternatives —provides grant money to organizations that help women make life-affirming choices with their unplanned or unexpected pregnancy.
• Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act —requires physicians performing abortions on infants over 22 weeks gestation to tell women that their unborn child can feel pain and to offer an anesthetic for the unborn child.

Unfortunately, after the 2006 election cycle pro-lifers lost not only their strong pro-life influence in the Minnesota Senate, but also their pro-life majority in the Minnesota House. Because of the pro-abortion leadership in both bodies, pro-life legislation was not only difficult to pass, but nearly impossible even to discuss.

This past biennium, none of MCCL’s initiatives --including eliminating taxpayer funding of abortion, banning cruel saline abortions, prohibiting sex-selection abortions, and regulating dangerous RU486 chemical abortions—even got a hearing.

Because we were shut out of the ordinary legislative process, MCCL was forced to take different routes—such as offering omnibus bill amendments on the floor—in order to be able to debate prolife initiatives.

As pro-lifers, we cannot stand back and allow our voices to be stifled. Instead we must make our voices heard loud and clear. The first step is to vote for pro-lifers on in both primary and general elections

The entire Minnesota House is up for re-election every two years, and we believe it is possible to take back the pro-life majority when pro-life voters, vote. In general we are only a few seats short of a majority in bad years and have the majority in good years. When we do our part, pro-lifers will have the ability to pass pro-life legislation on a bipartisan basis.

Your vote does make a difference! Pro-abortion legislators took back the majority in the Minnesota House in the 2006 election, but only by the slimmest of margins. In fact,

There are a number of things you can do to help pro-life candidates win on November 2:

• Learn about the candidate's record through our voter's guide.
• Share candidate information with your family, friends, neighbors and your church or club.
• Offer to volunteer for your candidate. Door knocking, making phone calls and walking in a parade can really help a candidate get the votes they need.
• Put a candidate’s sign in your yard.
• Make a donation to your candidate’s campaign rather than a political party.
• Donate to the MCCL State PAC. Any donations given to the State PAC fund go directly to helping MCCL elect pro-life candidates across the state who can win back any lost seats.

Remember: You exercise real power for change at the election booth. Every other issue can be resolved later but a lost life is lost forever and can never be recovered.

For more information about how to register to vote or where to cast your ballot, contact the Minnesota Secretary of State's office.