"My record is so pro-choice," Tim Walz bragged in June at the DFL state convention, "Nancy Pelosi asked me if I should tone it down."
He wasn't exaggerating.
Walz has represented Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House since 2007. Now he's running for governor.
If Walz is elected on Nov. 6, any increased protection for unborn children in Minnesota—even the most modest limitations on abortion—will be nearly impossible for the next four years.
Tim Walz's no-limits abortion record
During Walz's tenure in Congress, he compiled a zero percent pro-life voting record (zero pro-life votes out of 50), according to National Right to Life. He repeatedly voted against protection for unborn children after 20 weeks, when they can experience pain while being dismembered. He repeatedly voted for taxpayer funding of elective abortions.
He repeatedly voted for taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading performer and promoter of abortion. And he repeatedly voted to fund research requiring the destruction of human beings during their earliest developmental stages.
Walz also co-sponsored a bill (H.R. 1322) that would invalidate nearly all state and federal limits on abortion, including waiting periods, informed consent laws, and protection for unborn children late in pregnancy.
Technically, Walz did cast one pro-life vote—a vote earlier this year to protect babies born alive during abortions. But he actually meant to vote against it (and in 2015 he had voted against the same measure). He tweeted after the vote, "Accidentally voted for HR4712 today. It was an honest mistake. I meant to vote NO, as I did on an identical bill last Congress. My apologies for the confusion. I'll keep fighting for women's access to health care."
H.R. 4712, in fact, had precisely no bearing at all on "women's access to health care." It didn't even have any bearing on abortion or on access to abortion. It merely said that babies who are born alive in the context of abortion must be treated the same as all other already-born babies who are the same age—they may not be killed, neglected, or abandoned to die. Walz apparently opposed such protection strongly enough that he wanted to publicly correct the record.
At an MPR News debate on Aug.10, Walz was asked if, as governor, he would "sign or allow any bills to become law that would put new restrictions on abortion." He answered "absolutely not" and called himself a "vocal opponent of allowing anything like that to even start to permeate our discussion because the expansion of those services is the direction we should be going."
Walz's campaign website simply states, "Tim believes in a woman's right to choose and has a 100% voting record with Planned Parenthood. He will continue this support as Governor." His candidacy has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood's Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota.
Jeff Johnson is the pro-life alternative
By contrast, Walz's opponent in the November election, Jeff Johnson, provided a 100 percent pro-life response to MCCL's candidate questionnaire (Walz declined to respond to the questionnaire). Johnson is a Hennepin County commissioner, small business owner and lawyer, and former representative in the Minnesota House.
During his time at the Legislature, Johnson voted for key pro-life laws such as Woman's Right to Know, which ensures informed consent prior to abortion, and Positive Alternatives, which provides practical support and alternatives to abortion for pregnant women facing difficult circumstances. He also voted to stop taxpayer funding of abortion.
"There is no more important issue than protecting innocent life," Johnson writes on his website. "I am Pro-Life and believe in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death."
The importance of a pro-life governor
Over the last eight years, Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed pro-life bill after pro-life bill. These measures would have increased protection for the vulnerable and saved lives. But they didn't become law for the sole reason that Minnesota didn't have a pro-life governor.
Tim Walz promises the same uncompromising abortion extremism. Jeff Johnson offers a different course.