When I knocked on a door in Fargo, North Dakota, the elderly man who answered told me he was a one-issue voter. That issue turned out to be abortion. As it happened, several voters told me they were one-issue voters that day, and I confidently guessed that issue to be abortion. Usually, I was right. It’s important for pro-life citizens to get out and vote on Nov. 6 to continue driving the current pro-life momentum in America.
Over fall break, I joined a team of fellow Hillsdale College students in a four-day trip to North Dakota to canvass the state’s largest cities. Working with the Susan B. Anthony List — a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending abortion by supporting pro-life candidates — our mission was to promote Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp for the Senate. We knocked on more than 12,600 doors and walked more than 10 miles a day. Some of the voters I spoke with had their doubts about Cramer, but they planned to vote for him nonetheless because he is pro-life.
“I don’t care for Cramer all that much,” one Fargo voter told me. “But he’s pro-life, and he’ll have my vote.”
These voters know that one of the best ways to defend the sanctity of human life is to put pro-life candidates in office. Since the 2016 election, pro-lifers have made crucial political gains. President Donald Trump has plenty of flaws and shortcomings, but his administration is arguably the most actively pro-life since Ronald Reagan. He has successfully nominated two pro-life Supreme Court justices: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Trump also signed a bill that allows states to stop funding Planned Parenthood through Title X funding, and he reinstated Reagan’s Mexico City Policy, which cuts funding to foreign abortion providers.
But Trump can go only so far without a pro-life Congress backing him. This is why elections like the North Dakota Senate race are so important.
A candidate can easily claim a pro-life agenda, but words are meaningless unless supported by action. The same goes for pro-life voters. Not everyone can travel to another state to canvass. Not everyone can make the trek to Washington, D.C for the annual March for Life. But every registered voter who supports the right to life of the unborn can go out and vote for pro-life candidates. We need to push for incumbent pro-life Senators, as well as new Republican candidates like Michigan’s John James and Wisconsin’s Leah Vukmir.
This isn’t a partisan fight. The pro-life movement has allies on the left, particularly among the Democrats for Life. Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin in West Virginia, congressional candidate Dawn Barlow of Tennessee, and Dan Lipinski, a congressman from Illinois, have all been endorsed by Democrats for Life. They deserve the consideration of pro-lifers just as much as Republicans, especially for left-wing voters.
The nation is split on the issue of abortion. A majority of citizens support abortion at least in some cases, but according to a 2018 Gallup poll, 48 percent of Americans also believe it is a moral evil. Now, more than ever, we have the means change the law to reflect the scientific fact that abortion is the taking of a human life.
“This generation hasn’t just seen ultrasound images of unborn children, they’ve seen advancements in technology allowing younger and younger babies to survive — and thrive — after a premature birth,” March for Life’s Jeanne Mancini wrote in RealClear Politics.
Pro-life voters, young and old alike, have a responsibility to drive the momentum for the movement. Races in competitive states like North Dakota require pro-life voters to inform themselves and take action for the movement. The pro-life policies of Trump and Congress won’t mean anything unless citizens do something by voting for politicians who will defend the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution.
Nolan Ryan is a junior studying English.
