Candidates at the state level embracing the pro-life cause were re-elected in the midterms this week, an outcome that points to the anticipated success of Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker in his runoff election against anti-life Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock.
The Walker-Warnock December 6 runoff could determine whether Republicans, most of whom are pro-life, take control of the Senate from Democrats, almost all of whom support Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) legislation that would embed abortion on demand, at any time during pregnancy, into federal law, and make invalid most individual state pro-life laws.
But, thus far, the 2022 elections show candidates at the state level who stand up for the rights of unborn children were big winners.
As LifeNews reported Wednesday, “every pro-life Republican governor who signed an abortion ban won re-election.”
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser explained to LifeNews:
GOP pro-life candidates win in competitive races if they define their opponents as abortion extremists who support abortion on demand with no limits, and contrast that with a clearly defined pro-life position centered around consensus such as pain-capable or heartbeat limits. This must be the key takeaway for the GOP as we head into the 2024 presidential cycle, especially those eyeing a run for the White House.
Strongly conservative, pro-life candidates performed well on Tuesday. Weak candidates did not.
Be unapologetically pro-life. It won’t only turn out a passionate pro-life base to vote for you, it’s brave, moral leadership that wins respect from others.
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) November 10, 2022
Pro-life Georgia Governor Brian Kemp cruised to victory over pro-abortion Democrat Stacey Abrams in his re-election bid, and now, as reported, he will lend his get-out-the-vote organization to Walker to win back the Senate seat for his state.
Additionally, Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins observed as her organization backed pro-life legislation and candidates, “every state legislator who championed SFLAction-inspired pro-life bills was re-elected.”
Hawkins, who heads the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization, pointed to wins at the state level in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.
In Nebraska, we will finally have a filibuster-proof pro-life majority with the end of State Senator Emma Hunt’s career. Hunt is on the board of the local Planned Parenthood and used a filibuster to defeat life-saving laws from going into effect this session…
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) November 9, 2022
“As the pro-abortion, Democrat party gaslights Americans into believing they need abortion as they dehumanize the preborn, it’s clear our mission at SFLAction is far from over,” Hawkins said. “If you like any limits on abortion, you don’t like President Biden’s agenda. We look forward to working with new Pro-Life Champions on introducing life-saving legislation in more states next year.”
The German-owned Politico also acknowledged that the results of two state Supreme Court races handed the pro-life cause further wins. The left-wing outlet framed the wins as outliers claiming, “The abortion issue helped propel Democrats to unexpected victories across much of the country,” but the re-election of governors and state lawmakers who fiercely defended the rights of unborn children suggests otherwise.
Democrats’ “loss of state supreme court races in Ohio and North Carolina could imperil the future of the procedure in two of the country’s most populous states by cutting off a last line of defense against anti-abortion laws,” Politico noted, adding:
In Ohio, three anti-abortion, Republican supreme court candidates sailed to victory, likely dooming efforts to challenge state abortion restrictions. In North Carolina, two Republican wins give the court a conservative majority that could complicate Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s efforts to preserve access.
Ohio wins come as the state’s “heartbeat” law, prohibiting abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected at about six weeks of pregnancy, could likely end up at the Ohio Supreme Court.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R), who signed the “heartbeat” legislation, also easily won re-election.
In North Carolina, the outcome of the elections means Republican state Supreme Court justices will now have a 5-2 majority.
The pro-life wins occurred despite a “seven-figure investment” into these and other state Supreme Court races by Planned Parenthood.
Democrats spent $391 million on abortion-focused TV ads this election, versus only $11 million spent by GOP. A 35:1 ratio.
Yet dozens of strongly pro-life candidates STILL won in tight races.
This should be the story of yesterday. Pro-abortion extremism IS a losing issue.
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) November 9, 2022
Abortion industry political advocacy group NARAL has endorsed Warnock, who has embraced the pro-abortion narrative that ending the life of an unborn baby is “women’s health care.”
Warnock responded he is “grateful to have NARAL’s endorsement.”
“I’m proud to stand with NARAL and so many Georgians in the urgent fight for reproductive freedom and justice,” he said in the NARAL press statement. “As a proud pro-choice pastor, I fundamentally believe that health care is a human right and that decisions about pregnancy should be made between a patient and their provider.”
Walker, on the other hand emphasized in September, “I am a proud pro-life Christian, and I will always stand up for our unborn children,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Walker added he supports the Dobbs Supreme Court decision that returned abortion issues to the states, but also supports a national law restricting abortion to 15-weeks of pregnancy.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Herschel Walker” by Herschel Walker.
