Pro-life work in 2016 elections paying dividends for unborn babies
By Karen Cross, National Right to Life political director
Speaker of the House Pro-life Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and National Right to Life President Carol Tobias
Pro-life Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has been overwhelmingly reelected as Speaker of the House. Pro-life Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was unanimously reelected Senate Majority Leader on November 16.
Today’s vote count for the Speaker position was 239 votes for Ryan and 189 votes for pro-abortion Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Pelosi, who supports abortion on demand, will continue to serve as the minority leader – a clear indication that the Democrats still don’t understand what happened two months ago.
Reelecting Speaker Ryan is a first step in the right direction.
Soon there will be announcements of pro-life legislation making its way through the legislative process and eventually to the desk of pro-life President Donald Trump.
Three areas of major focus will be protecting pain-capable unborn babies from abortion, making the Hyde Amendment a permanent law under the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, and defunding Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the world.
There was a clear referendum on abortion in the 2016 elections. In a November 8 poll taken by the polling company/Women Trend, 49% of all voters said that abortion affected their vote. Of those, 39% “voted for the candidates who oppose abortion (pro-life),” while only 18% “voted for the candidates who favor abortion (pro-choice).” This was a 13% advantage for the pro-life candidate.
Pro-life Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and National Right to Life President Carol Tobias
In 2016 National Right to Life and its political entities, National Right to Life Political Action Committee and National Right to Life Victory Fund, were actively focused on 60 of the most competitive federal races overall: the Presidential race, twelve U.S. Senate races, and 47 races for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Our pro-life efforts paid off. In the most competitive pro-life/pro-abortion federal races, National Right to Life political entities won 50 of the 60 closest races in the country, or 83%.
The consequence of 2016’s historic election means many lives will be saved. Your pro-life efforts changed the course of history.
Thanks to your work, we will be able to pass protective pro-life legislation and place it on President Trump’s desk.
According to published account, Trump is expected to nominate a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia before Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
For more about the importance of abortion in the 2016 election, see “A National Referendum on Abortion,” by Dr. David N. O’Steen, executive director of National Right to Life.