Senate’s Failure on Abortion Notification Bill Points to Pro-Life Election Concerns 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 2, 2006
The following is a LifeNews.com editorial.
The Senate’s failure to approve an abortion bill that would have provided support for parental notification and consent laws across the country points to the need for pro-life advocates to get involved in key election battles that are happening in virtually every state.
The Senate fell three votes short last week in turning back a hold pro-abortion lawmakers placed on the pro-life bill. Unfortunately, given the tenuous election climate for pro-life advocates, the pro-life movement may fall further behind after November.
For months, political pundits have talked about a potential sea change in Congress and the possibility that abortion advocates may take over control of both the House and Senate. That climate has improved but there is still a tremendous amount of work to do in the last month of the election.
However, even the loss of a handful of votes could have a significant impact — especially on extremely crucial votes on another potential Supreme Court nominee and using your taxpayer funds to pay for embryonic stem cell research.
In the Senate, where an override of President Bush’s veto on using tax money for embryonic stem cell research won by just a few votes, backers of that life-destroying research and abortion may pick up three to five votes.
Races in Virginia, Tennessee, and Arizona are becoming more hotly contested than previously thought. Missouri, Ohio and Montana are crucial races we can’t lose, contests in Minnesota, Maryland and Washington unfortunately appear to be slipping away, and Pennsylvania is now a toss-up.
Ironically pro-life advocates may have to pin their hopes on a pro-abortion Republican candidate in New Jersey, Tom Kean, to keep control of the Senate.
On the House side, Democrats are certain to gain seats in the upcoming elections, but can they get the net 15 they need to take control?
Most observers say Democrats will pick up numerous seats but will come just short of the number needed to take over the House. Since Democratic lawmakers tend to mostly favor abortion and Republican lawmakers are mostly pro-life, this no doubt means that we will have fewer pro-life votes in Congress next year.
With Congress heading home for the October recess, there is the potential that several incumbent pro-life lawmakers can reconnect with voters and shore up their shaky re-election campaigns.
Latest reports also show good news as several pro-life lawmakers are holding cash advantages over their opponents and may be able to receive a last-minute boost thanks to more advertising.
But lawmakers such as Chris Chocola, John Hostettler and Mike Soudrel in Indiana, Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado, Geoff Davis in Kentucky, Steve Chabot in Ohio, Charles Taylor in North Carolina, Jim Gerlach, Curt Weldon, Michael Fitzpatrick and Don Sherwood in Pennsylvania, Thelma Drake in Virginia, and David Reichert in Washington all have races in which we might lose their pro-life vote.
If you live in these Congressional districts or the states I mentioned in the Senate section, please take the time to help these pro-life candidates and get your friends and family to vote for and support them.
Also, the fate of pro-life legislation in state legislatures hinges on important gubernatorial races.
Pro-life advocates in Ohio, Arkansas, Colorado, Alaska, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, South Carolina and Texas need to get involved now in making sure the pro-life candidates in those hotly contested battles win those races.
Other states have top races as well, but I’ve hit the highlights on some of the marquee contests.
Ultimately, pro-life people need to get involved in these election battles now because the pro-life movement is in danger of taking a severe hit on Election Day. Your work is needed in the next month to keep up our pro-life numbers so we can stop the pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-destructive research onslaught that continues in Congress and state legislatures around the country.
