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Every Sunday morning growing up, my mom, my dad, and my nine siblings would tumble out of our Ford Club Wagon and cram into the same front pew in our small town church. On this particular morning in early Fall of 1996, my 10-year-old heart swelled with pride as my pastor stood behind the pulpit and praised our California State Senator, Dick Mountjoy, seated just a few pews back, for being "so vocally pro-life."
Later at home, my dad paused as he flipped through political mailers in our kitchen. "I think it's really great that Dick Mountjoy is pro-life, but I won't be voting for him." My jaw dropped. We were a Pro-Life Family. "He can't do anything to stop abortions," my dad said, "and I don't agree with what he's done to immigrants."
I didn't know it at the time, but Mountjoy had authored a costly and cumbersome initiative that would have forced children to prove their legal immigration or citizenship status before they could attend public school or receive healthcare at safety-net hospitals and clinics.
Throughout my life, my dad has shown me that true faith requires us to care for the vulnerable with our words, our resources, and our vote. But, the vulnerable person or group may not always look the same. Sometimes it may be unborn babies. Sometimes, it may be single mothers, or children in our special education programs, or refugee families.
And so, because of his faith and his belief that every human life has value from conception until natural death, my dad, an unapologetically pro-life Christian and lifelong Republican voted for a pro-choice Democrat instead of the man who faithfully attended our church.
The Dobbs decision in 2022 transferred abortion authority from the federal government back to the state, enabling each state to decide whether to ban, regulate, or expand access to abortion. So whether you're heartbroken by abortions, or afraid of the impact of abortion bans, our US representative will not be the person who moves Minnesota's abortion laws in either direction.
If you share the belief that every human life has inherent value, I encourage you to consider, (much as my Dad did in a different state three decades ago), that the US Congressional District 1 candidate who will best uphold human dignity and who most aligns with the faith you hold dear may actually be the one who doesn't go to your church.