Sarah Stoesz, CEO of Planned Parenthood in Minnesota for the past twenty years, will be stepping down later this year. Stoesz has led Planned Parenthood in creating more clinics, expanding its reach to other states, and impacting local politics. A replacement will be selected this fall. Her roots in Minnesota go deep, especially with the Democratic party.
Liberal leaders from across the state have been quick to commend her. Senator Tina Smith, a former Planned Parenthood executive who worked with Stoesz, praised her for influencing how health care professionals treat abortion. Sadly, instead of putting effort towards building Minnesota up, Stoesz and her team attempt to carefully pull apart what holds our state together — the family.
While Stoesz may be leaving Planned Parenthood permanently, her impact on the abortion landscape in our state will remain. Under Stoesz, Planned Parenthood has been preparing for the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the eventual abolition of abortion in neighboring states. She says when Roe v. Wade is overturned “we will be welcoming people from other states to Minnesota.” The ugly truth is that Minnesota will become a haven for so-called “health care access” that only leads to the death of the unborn.
In an interview with the Minnesota Reformer, Stoesz remarked about her impact “So I am very, very proud of the number of lives that we have touched over the past 20 years.” Perhaps “touched” is the wrong word. Planned Parenthood, as the name suggests, works to destroy families by turning mothers against their children in a sick attempt at “reproductive freedom.” In her bragging, Stoesz did not mention the roughly 90,000 lives ended by Planned Parenthood in Minnesota during her tenure. Planned Parenthood does not merely “touch” lives, it instead takes a sledgehammer to the foundation of the family.
What does all of this mean for abortion laws in Minnesota? Both North and South Dakota have trigger laws, meaning if Roe v. Wade was overturned, both states would immediately make abortion illegal. Minnesota is different. Since 1995, we’ve had our own “Roe v. Wade” in Minnesota called Doe v. Gomez that treats abortion, even at taxpayers’ expense, as a “right.” Minnesota will still have work to do to make abortion illegal and unthinkable in our state. But this should not discourage pro-lifers across our state. It took Sarah Stoesz twenty years to mechanize Minnesota into a pro-abortion state. With the possibility of winning pro-life majorities in our legislature and putting a pro-life champion in the Governor's Office this fall, we hope to see Doe v Gomez fall and unborn lives protected in MN in much less time than that!
The possibility of overturning Roe v. Wade should bring hope to those in the pro-life movement. In Minnesota, while it remains a dark bastion of abortion, the ground will be fertile for change. With each victory we gain, and each state that abolishes abortion, we move closer to creating a world where the murder of the innocent is no longer seen as “necessary health care.” We must stand up to protect the family by shielding the unborn. There is opportunity for change, so with God’s help, let’s take it.
(Image: Lorie Shaull, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
