Harris, Walz seek to up-end true ‘choice’ for pregnant women

By Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie
Real Clear Wire

Vice-presidential picks generally balance a ticket, but Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate does anything but. And American Catholics and others who care about the poor and vulnerable should be alarmed.

Consider their attacks against their states’ life-affirming pregnancy care centers. For me, this issue is more than political. It’s personal. Like many Catholics across the country, I volunteer at our local pregnancy centers. I’m the medical director for the centers run by the Archdiocese of Miami and I read their fetal ultrasounds. Helping families and expectant mothers through my work there is one of the most rewarding ways in which I practice medicine.

It is widely known that as California attorney general, Harris attacked the state’s pregnancy resource centers by spearheading legislation requiring these pro-life centers to promote abortion. Harris lost, spectacularly, at the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that coercing the speech of pro-life volunteers in a way that directly contradicted their mission was a clear violation of their First Amendment rights. What’s not so widely known is that Gov. Walz made it his mission to end state support of Minnesota’s pregnancy care centers (more than $3 million in grants) and he accomplished this in 2023.

The program was created in 2005 by then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty and called “Positive Alternatives.” Pawlenty saw that the counseling, material assistance, and support provided by pregnancy resource centers offered positive alternatives to abortion for expectant mothers who wanted to keep their children.

It is hard for me to imagine what could be better for a woman who is feeling hopeless and alone than the free material and emotional support she will find at a pregnancy resource center. Among the resources these centers provide are free ultrasounds, help in accessing prenatal care, housing and financial assistance, and education and employment assistance. They also offer nutritional services, adoption help, child-care assistance, and parenting classes. In fact, our centers in Miami receive referrals from nearby abortion facilities when an expectant mother decides against the one and only option they offer.

By cutting off funding for pregnancy resource centers, Walz did nothing but reduce much needed assistance for the high-risk, low-income population that depends on these centers. In Minnesota, poor expectant mothers in rural areas lacking major health care systems are likely the hardest hit.

To be sure, defunding pregnancy resource centers is but a small part of Gov. Walz’s radical abortion agenda. The “Protect Reproductive Options Act” he signed into law in 2023 allows abortion for any reason through all 40 weeks of pregnancy. But that is not all. Walz signed a second bill that repealed maternal safety regulations applicable to abortion facilities, informed consent protections, protections against coercing a woman into abortion or sterilization, parental consent for minors undergoing abortion or sterilization, and, perhaps most alarmingly, life support requirements for babies born alive after a failed abortion.

Both Harris and Walz have shown downright animus toward pregnancy resource centers and entirely misrepresent the purpose and intent of these charitable organizations. From years of experience with our own local centers and their (mostly volunteer) staff, I can attest that they exist to enable expectant mothers and their families to receive their wanted children into the world. Inside the doors of each center a young woman facing what may be the most difficult situation of her life will find a non-judgmental, cheerful, and hopeful welcome. Instead of allowing economic hardship, fear of the future, and loneliness to dictate her decision and lead her to an abortion facility that will take both her money and her child, these centers offer true choice.

Catholics and other Americans who are pro-life need to know about this radical agenda. But so do those who consider themselves pro-choice. A nation in which pregnancy resource centers are eliminated by extreme politicians in the name of “choice” is a nation in which options are significantly narrower – especially for the marginalized and vulnerable.

Grazie Pozo Christie, M.D., is a Senior Fellow for The Catholic Association and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Conversations with Consequences.