The state’s largest pro-life organization is launching a radio ad campaign to inform Minnesotans about U.S. Senate appointee Tina Smith’s record of advocacy for unlimited abortion. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) will begin airing the radio spots statewide this week as part of a multifaceted public education campaign to expose Smith’s abortion extremism.
“Tina Smith is a leader in the abortion industry,” says MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. “Minnesotans need to know about the extremism of her views before casting their votes in the 2018 election.”
Smith, the current lieutenant governor, was appointed last week by Gov. Mark Dayton to fill resigning Sen. Al Franken’s seat in Washington. Smith then plans to run to keep the seat in next fall’s election.
She is unlikely to campaign on her abortion record. Smith served as a vice president of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota from 2003 to 2006. During that time, the organization performed 9,717 abortions in Minnesota and saw its annual total jump 22 percent. The group also doubled its number of abortions funded by taxpayers (from 2003-2006), and took in $12.65 million in government grants from 2003 to 2005.
Smith herself testified against commonsense abortion legislation at the Capitol, including the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent law and the Positive Alternatives Act, which provides practical support and abortion alternatives for women who want to keep their babies.
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While Smith was Gov. Dayton’s chief of staff and then his lieutenant governor, Dayton vetoed numerous pro-life bills. These included efforts to stop the taxpayer funding of elective abortion, to license and inspect abortion facilities (like Planned Parenthood), and to protect pain-capable unborn children (20 weeks gestation and later).
“Tina Smith doesn’t just support abortion,” concludes Fischbach. “She lobbied on its behalf. She worked to defeat any conceivable limitations on it. She was an executive for the state’s abortion leader. She is the Abortion Senator.”
