By Scott Fischbach, executive director
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life

Editor’s note. As anyone who reads this blog, its predecessor “Today’s News & Views,” or our newspaper, National Right to Life News, already knows, we don’t believe standing in a circle and firing at will is productive.

So, without recycling a misleading attack on pro-life former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and a piece of legislation that passed while he was Minnesota’s chief executive, we’ve chosen instead to print a rebuttal by someone who has lived in Minnesota much of his life and knows the history of Minnesota’s “Woman’s Right to Know” law backwards and forwards—Scott Fischbach, the executive director of NRLC’s state affiliate, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

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Pro-Life Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty

On April 14, 2003, our newly elected Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Woman’s Right to Know legislation into law—literally hours after it was passed by the Legislature. After nine long years of intense legislative battles—and vetoes of our legislation by Governor Jesse Ventura and Governor Arnie Carlson—our pro-life champion, Governor Tim Pawlenty, finally empowered the women of our state with the facts about abortion!

Our Woman’s Right to Know law was one of the first in the nation to share information with women about a possible link between abortion and breast cancer, and we were the very first state to ever mention to women that unborn children can feel pain. The law that pro-life hero Tim Pawlenty signed truly broke new ground for the pro-life movement.

The results of our Woman’s Right to Know law are awesome. Since the law went into effect, thousands of women have chosen life! Every year the Minnesota Department of Health releases a yearly report on abortion. This report shows that about 2,500 women each year who contact an abortionist for an appointment, and then are given the packet of information and 24 hours to reflect on the information—as per the Woman’s Right to Know law—never return to the abortion center!

In 2011, a total of 13,645 women contacted an abortionist for an appointment, but 2,574 of them never returned to the abortion center after receiving the Woman’s Right to Know information. Since Governor Pawlenty made Woman’s Right to Know the law in our state, 15,696 more women have received the information than have aborted.

Governor Pawlenty’s Woman’s Right to Know law is saving lives today, and every day. In fact, his policies have led our state to see a 21% decline in the number of abortions over the last five years.

Because of pro-life stalwarts like Tim Pawlenty, we now have the lowest number of abortions performed per year in Minnesota since 1975, and the lowest abortion rate ever recorded.

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