Minnesota Planned Parenthood Backs Pro-Abortion Mark Dayton for Governor

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 26, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Minnesota Planned Parenthood Backs Pro-Abortion Mark Dayton for Governor

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 26
, 2010

St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — The Minnesota Planned Parenthood abortion business has endorsed DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton now that its preferred candidate, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, lost in the primary election. Dayton faces pro-abortion Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner and pro-life Tom Emmer.

“Minnesotans have embraced Mark Dayton’s vision for the state,” Sarah Stoesz, president of the political arm of the Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota South Dakota group said in a statement.

“He has always been a champion of women’s rights," she said of his abortion advocacy.

“Women will play a pivotal role in this election and so will the Planned Parenthood Action Fund,” Stoesz said. “We will engage in an aggressive effort to educate voters about Tom Emmer’s abysmal record on women’s health and safety.”

The abortion business official claimed a 2009 poll showed 65 percent of women “in battleground states like Minnesota view Planned Parenthood positively.”

Scott Fischbach with the pro-life group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says Planned Parenthood must have struggled with the endorsement because both Dayton and Party rival Tom Horner are strongly pro-abortion.

"We are not surprised by the endorsement as Dayton has a long radical record in support of abortion on demand. He was even a sponsor of FOCA," Fischbach told LifeNews.cmo today. "But, I am sure Planned Parenthood did struggle on the decision as to who to endorse because Horner supports abortion just as much as Dayton."

"The race for governor in Minnesota is crystal clear: Tom Emmer is pro life and Mark Dayton and Tom Horner are not," he said.

Horner has spent much of the campaign trying to hide his pro-abortion views in language saying he wants to "reduce abortions"

But, Horner has stated that he would not have signed Minnesota’s Woman’s Right to Know law providing basic informed consent information prior to an abortion procedure.

He went on to say that he supports taxpayer funded abortions, does not believe the office of governor should have anything to do with protecting unborn children, and that the abortion issue should be handled on the federal level.

“As a political spin doctor, you would think that Tom Horner could have come up with a better abortion position than ‘I won’t be labeled,’” Fischbach said in May. “If a candidate opposes Woman’s Right to Know and wants to force taxpayers to buy other people’s abortions, he is clearly not ‘in the middle’ on the abortion issue, he is pro-abortion.”

At his press conference Horner was joined by notorious abortion flip-flopper former Congressman Tim Penny, and Horner also announced the support of longtime pro-abortionist Sally Pillsbury.

Only Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer has a 100 percent pro-life record, MCCL confirms.

“Tom Emmer is the only major candidate for governor who understands the importance of supporting unborn children and their mothers in our state," Fischbach added. "All of the other candidates support a radical pro-abortion agenda including forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions.”

That assessment didn’t go over well with Horner.

In a twitter message, Horner said, "MCCL misstates my position, then attacks me. An organization sacrificing its credibility doesn’t reduce abortion, it just reduces trust.”

But MCCL stands by its analysis, Fischbach told LifeNews.com.

"The facts are the facts: Tom Horner supports abortion on demand and wants taxpayers to pay for abortions," he said. "A candidate can spin and spin and even tweet all day long. It does not change the fact that Tom Horner is pro-abortion."

Related web sites:
MCCL – https://www.mccl.org

 

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