The following MCCL news release was issued today, April 30.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) today congratulated the Tom Emmer-Annette Meeks ticket in the 2010 Minnesota governor's race following their endorsement at the GOP Convention. Both candidates have long and solid records as pro-life leaders.
"Representative Tom Emmer is the perfect kind of candidate for governor, because he respects the constitutional right to life and has worked and voted to protect innocent life throughout his career as a public servant," said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. "In Annette Meeks he has chosen a longtime friend of MCCL who has been a strong pro-life advocate during her decades of work on public policy."
Rep. Emmer, R-Delano, has a 100 percent pro-life voting record in his three terms as a state representative (2004-2010). He was chief author of a 2008 MCCL-supported measure to encourage adult stem cell research and ban all forms of human cloning. Rep. Emmer has worked with MCCL on other protective legislation including Positive Alternatives, the Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act and efforts to prevent taxpayers from being forced to pay for saline and sex-selection abortions, embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
As pro-life Gov. Tim Pawlenty has demonstrated, a pro-life governor is absolutely crucial to passage of protective legislation. More than once, the Minnesota House and Senate have passed pro-life bills only to see them vetoed by a pro-abortion governor. Woman's Right to Know, for example, was repeatedly rejected by pro-abortion governors for nine years until Pawlenty signed it into law in 2003. Pawlenty has also shown courage with vetoes of anti-life legislation, including a 2008 bill to sanction embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
"Tom Emmer has been a champion for the unborn, the disabled and the elderly as a state representative, and MCCL is confident that he will continue to work for their protection as governor," Fischbach said. "Government must protect the lives of its most vulnerable citizens, and Tom Emmer has a long history of serving the most innocent and helpless among us."
