The 2016 election is over and it was stunning. Very few expected that candidates committed to protecting human life would win the White House, Congress, and local offices across the nation. There are many reasons for this huge upset, including the relatively high turnout of rural voters and the fact that Donald Trump gave voice to the anti-establishment movement. Here is one key takeaway: voters rejected the pro-abortion agenda of the Democratic Party and its candidates.
Although President Bill Clinton and other Democrats once called for making abortion “safe, legal, and rare,” Hillary Clinton would have none of it. Instead, she pushed for radical policies such as abolishing the Hyde Amendment, which prevents direct federal taxpayer funding of abortion. She even defended illegal partial-birth abortions.
In this election cycle, the revolving door between the Democratic Party and Planned Parenthood was more visible than ever before. In January, 2016, Planned Parenthood endorsed Hillary Clinton in its first-ever primary season endorsement. In October, the abortion giant announced it would spend $30 million on what it called an “unprecedented” effort to turn out voters for Clinton and other pro-abortion candidates. This expenditure is in addition to millions of dollars spent on campaign ads and donations for Democratic Party candidates.
For its part, the Democratic Party veered to the extreme pro-abortion left rather than uniting around a candidate and platform that could win on the ballot. The Democratic National Convention adopted its most pro-abortion platform in history this past summer, signaling its complete takeover by the abortion industry.
In the end, the unprecedented push to advocate for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand for any reason backfired. Pro-lifers turned out to vote. Evangelical voters chose the pro-life presidential candidate in higher percentages than in the past. Pro-abortion legislative majorities and governors across the nation fell. Oregon didn’t entirely miss the wave either. (See page 3.) Nationally, Planned Parenthood had endorsed 10 candidates for U.S. Senate and saw only three win.
The abortion industry lost in the 2016 election. It lost because the Democratic Party was the most radical and strident it has ever been on abortion. Additionally, it lost because pro-lifers voted. Our national government is now dominated by pro-life individuals, giving us an historic opportunity. This is the time to push hard to implement pro-life policies that will save the lives of the unborn for generations to come.
