By Jacki Ragan, Director, State Organizational Development DepartmentEditor’s note. This appears on page one of the November issues of National Right to Life News. Please be sure to send the issue along to pro-life family and friends.
In the aftermath of the November 8th elections, so many things–thoughts, ideas, nonsense–take hold of my brain and runs with it. It is hard not to get caught up in the “talking heads” and “latest polls of the moment” type of election hype. They want to convince us that they can tell everyone who will win before the first vote is cast. Why not, it equals ratings and that is what the press lives on and for.
But they have a power that most people do not recognize. The power to repeat a lie, over and over, and over again, until people begin to believe what they know at some level in their soul is wrong.
On Election Day, there were 5 abortion related Ballot measures in the country that passed or failed depending on the wording. Not one came down on the side of life. Not one. And the outcomes weren’t close.
We have excellent affiliates where these initiatives were held and they worked harder than you can imagine to either pass them or prevent them from passing.
Let’s run through them. First, California’s Proposition 1, A Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom. The State Constitution would be amended to protect a person’s reproductive freedom “in their most intimate decisions,” including the right to abortion and contraceptives. The proposition is currently winning by 65% to 35%. There isn’t now, and never was, any doubt that it would win.
Next, we had Kentucky’s Constitutional Amendment 2 ~ No Right to Abortion, in this case a pro-life proposal. The amendment stated there is no right to abortion, or any requirement to fund abortion, in the State Constitution. 52% said No, 47% said Yes,
Then, we go to Michigan’s Proposal 3 ~ Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom. The proposal would create a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, including decisions “about all matters relating to pregnancy,” such as abortion and contraception. Pro-abortion to the core. But 57% of Michigan voters said yes, let’s do this.
Next was Montana’s Legislative Referendum 131 ~ Born-Alive Infants Regulation. The measure would enact a law making any infant “born alive” at any gestational age a legal person, a protection that already exists under a federal law passed 20 years ago but without an enforcement mechanism. It would criminalize health care providers who do not make every effort to save the life of an infant “born during an attempted abortion” or after labor or a C-section. Doctors say they are concerned that the law will limit palliative care for infants who are born but will not survive. A pro-life post-abortion proposal. Results? 53% of voters in Montana said No.
Finally, there was Vermont’s Proposal 5 ~ Constitutional Right to Reproductive Autonomy. The proposal would create a constitutional right to personal reproductive autonomy. More than 77% of Vermont voters said yes to this open-ended invitation to abort.
I know these people personally and I can tell you they worked, and worked, and worked, and then, they worked some more. They were as prepared as they could be.
They had money (although vastly outspent), they had people, and they had truth on their side. But what they did not have was the press. They were unable to counter the lies that the pro-aborts put forth as fact, confident that the press would back them up.
And they did.
So in a sense, pro-abortionists won because American voters were “gaslighted” into buying into the falsehoods. If you are still reading, thank you, because I do have a point. And it is, don’t you believe for a second that Americans are somehow 60% and 70% pro-abortion. It is not true. Americans bought into what was being told them as fact.
Do we have a ton of work to do? Yes, we do. And we are getting ready to build–and grow–the grassroots nationwide. We are building a network of reachable people that can help spread the truth and combat the lies.
We aren’t going away.
We will never forsake the babies.
We will never stop fighting for life.
And that is a fact.