Planned Parenthood Advocate

Pawlenty Stumping for Anti-Choicers

by Karina

Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

Governor Pawlenty is headed to Washington! Again! But instead of holding fundraisers for his “Freedom PAC”, or courting conservative voters, he’ll be stumping for the anti-choicers at
  Susan B. Anthony List's Annual Gala. Susan B. Anthony’s List’s mission is “ending abortion in this country” by electing pro-life women.

Via Politico:

“We’re so pleased to have Gov. Tim Pawlenty headline our Campaign for Life Gala,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told POLITICO. “The governor’s actions on behalf of Minnesota women and unborn children are exemplary.”

Personally, as a Minnesotan women, I couldn’t be more unhappy with the actions that the Governor has taken on “my behalf.” Let’s take a look at some of those actions:

•    Signed the women’s right-to-know act, which instituted a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can have an abortion and also forces a doctor to read biased and scientifically unverified language to women prior to the procedure.

•    Allowed his Department of Health to propagate misinformation about the links between abortion and breast cancer.

•    Provided funding for “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” which pose as legitimate health care centers, but often give out medically inaccurate information and religious “advice.”

Women can at least be thankful for the fact that the Governor didn’t gut the Family Planning and Special Projects Grants that partially fund organizations who provide family planning services.

The Politico article attributes Pawlenty’s latest speaking gig to another attempt toward building his national “brand.”

Thankfully there are nearly a dozen pro-choice gubernatorial candidates who support policies that will actually help women and families in our state through pro-active policies that reduce the rates of unintended pregnancies through improving access to the tools and information Minnesotans need to be healthy.  AND they are actually interested in governing our state!

Help us ensure that we elect one of these pro-choice candidates and make sure that our next Governor is Pro-choice! Visit prochoicegov.mn and make a donation to our Political Action Fund.

The road to a Pro-Choice Governor

by Karina

Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

Minnpost has a great summary of the current state of our Minnesota's Gubernatorial race, who the front runners are, and how the convention process will affect those still in the running.

Minnpost writer Doug Grow pegs Rep. Marty Seifert, Rep. Tom Emmer, and former state auditor Pat Anderson as the current front runners for the GOP nomination---barring any last minute entry from former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman. Unfortunately, the GOP field of candidates for Governor is 100% anti-choice.

The DFL field, thankfully, is made up of all Pro-Choice candidates. Grow lists Speaker of House Margaret Anderson as the front-runner but that there are a lot of other factors involved:

On paper, Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher seems to have the clearest shot at early-ballot endorsement. But she's not without problems, and there is any number of candidates trying to position themselves as the consensus candidate who can bring the party together.

The DFL's rules committee, which will meet prior to the April 23-25 state convention, will play a big role in the outcome. If the rules committee sets a low drop-out standard for percentage of votes needed to survive early ballots, the chances of a compromise candidate winning endorsement increases. If a high standard is set, the two or three front-runners entering the convention have the best chance of coming out of the convention with the endorsement.

Our PAC, the Planned Parenthood Minnesota Political Action Fund, has not made any kind of endorsement yet, but all of the DFL candidates have been exceptional advocates for pro-choice issues in Minnesota.  When our PAC does make an endorsement you'll be the first to hear about it!

Speaking of our PAC, we are currently on a mission to make sure that the next Governor in MN is Pro-Choice. Wouldn't that be nice? Minnesota teens could FINALLY have comprehensive sex ed. We could build robust family planning programs that give our citizens access to basic health care. And we wouldn't have to worry about what the next piece of crazy, invasive legislation that anti-choicers cook up. Help us achieve this goal by making a contribution to the Planned Parenthood Minnesota Political Action Fund.

So we don't have Cliff and Frasier stumping for us but...

by Karina

Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

As you probably heard, our Governor, Tim Pawlenty had a large fundraiser in Minneapolis featuring guest speakers, Cliff (John Ratzenberger)  Jon Voight (of Deliverance and Midnight Cowboy fame), and a special call-in speech from Frasier (Kelsey Grammer).  They were all there to help Governor Pawlenty raise funds for his “Freedom First” PAC, which is raising funds to elect conservative candidates who are are putting “Freedom First.”

Well, guess what?? WE, too, have PAC that is also focused on putting Freedom First—Reproductive Freedom--- which given Governor Pawlenty’s anti-choice record, is probably not the kind “Freedom” he has in mind for his PAC.  

The Planned Parenthood Minnesota Political Action Fund recently launched an online fundraising campaign for our PAC in order to elect a Pro-Choice Governor in Minnesota in 2010, who supports reproductive freedom, as well as comprehensive sex ed, family planning, and other policies that reduce unintended pregnancies and STIs.

We don’t have Cliff or Frasier, but we do have the support of Minnesotans who are supportive of not letting the government interfere with the most private and personal decisions. We’d love to have your support too.  

So show your support for electing progressive, pro-choice candidates in Minnesota by making a donation to our PAC.  At the same time you’ll be sticking it Frasier and Cliff, showing your disapproval for Pawlenty not including Reproductive Freedom in his PAC.

We appreciate your contribution in any amount.

Avoiding the anti-choice election trend

 

by Karina
Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

Okay, so hopefully it’s not really a "trend," but it’s troubling nonetheless. So last night, in the two gubernatorial elections that took place yesterday, two pro-choicer were defeated by two anti-choicers.

In New Jersey’s case, it was Chris “I am Pro-life” Christie who defeated incumbent Jon Corzine, and in Virginia, the beyond anti-choice, Bob “women working is detrimental to society” McDonnell managed to beat out state Pro-choice state Senator Creigh Deeds, despite McDonnell’s downright wacky views.  

I have to say—It scares me a little bit to think about the upcoming 2010 election when 36 states will elect their Governor.  Minnesota is one of those 36 states.

Wouldn’t it be great to have an amazing Pro-Choice Governor in Minnesota ?  Think about it—Minnesota teens could FINALLY have comprehensive sex ed. We could build robust family planning programs that give our citizens access to basic health care. And we wouldn’t have to worry about what the next piece of crazy, invasive legislation that anti-choicers cook up.

Yesterday, a year from the 2010 elections, the Planned Parenthood Minnesota Political Action Fund launched a fundraising campaign to help ensure that the next Governor we elect is Pro-Choice.  We’ve now got less than one year to raise the funds to ensure that we help make that vision a reality.  

And let’s face it—you probably haven’t made up your mind about who you are personally supporting for Governor (at least I know I haven’t), but your contribution of 10 or 25 bucks could go a long way toward supporting a progressive, pro-choice candidate to be our next Governor.  

Make a contribution to elect a Pro-Choice Governor in 2010.