Rejoice! Our Lord has fought for us—and He has given us the victory (Deut. 20:4).
History was made last night. After more than a year of praying, fasting, door knocking, and organizing, Proposition 1 was soundly defeated—even as conservatives suffered significant losses across the country.
Idaho is now the fourth state in the nation to reject a pro-abortion ballot initiative, meaning that our Heartbeat law and the Defense of Life Act will continue to preborn life in the womb.
For the last six months, I’ve helped lead the Stop Prop 1 campaign with Christian Welp from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise and Tom Luna, a prominent Latter-day Saint and former Idaho GOP chairman.
From the very beginning, we knew that abortion advocates fundamentally misunderstood Idaho.
They thought that this was just another political fight. They thought they could roll into Idaho with their millions of dollars from out-of-state billionaires to impose their blue state abortion laws here. But they were wrong.
After all, Idahoans are pro-life because they’re people of faith. We knew they would reject the extreme abortion agenda, but only if they were told the truth. So rather than viewing this as just another political campaign, we took a different approach—getting people from the pews to the polls.
With this in mind, our Too Extreme for Idaho PAC set out to mobilize the three largest religious communities in Idaho: evangelical Protestants, Catholics, and Latter-day Saints.
We may disagree on theology, but we all agree that preborn life is worth protecting. So we got to work raising nearly $4.7 million to match the Prop 1 campaign in broadcast, radio, and streaming ads.
But much of the real work was done on the ground. Churches mobilized like never before, preaching from the pulpits, distributing literature, and organizing door-knocking and sign-waving campaigns.
WATCH: IFPC President Blaine Conzatti celebrates defeat of Prop 1
So how did we defeat Prop 1? Pastors faithfully shepherded their congregations by encouraging them to vote no. Pro-life groups set aside their political differences to stand together against the evil of abortion. And Christians showed up to the polls.
This is what happens when Christians speak out and get engaged—WE WIN.
But don’t fall into the trap of believing that the fight is over. Although Idaho voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 1, we know that there will be some who will keep trying to expand abortion access.
We’re not going to let that happen. According to our polling, a majority of Idaho voters support our pro-life laws—especially our Heartbeat law.
These laws are worth defending. And those lives are worth saving.
We’ll keep fighting until every child receives the equal protection of our laws. And with your help – and by God’s grace – we will finish the work of building an Idaho where every human life is cherished.
