SD Senator Tim Johnson isn't speaking up for the unborn, even now.

Sen. Tim Johnson isn't speaking up for the unborn, even now. Joel Dykstra is a voice for those with no voice.

Many in South Dakota remember the day in late September 2006 we came home from work to a pre-recorded voicemail from Senator Timothy Johnson urging us to vote NO on Referred Law 6, the abortion ban. Dakota War College covered this saying "that could cause him headaches in 2008." Interesting. We'll see. Here's what the Argus Leader reported at the time…

U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., has taped an automated telephone message that urges voters to reject the legislation. South Dakota’s senior senator said the proposed ban on most abortions should be dumped because it contains no exceptions for women who have been victims of rape or incest.

Now that Initiated Measure 11 HAS those exceptions for rape and incest, do you suppose Sen. Johnson is supporting it? No.

I remember looking a my wife after hearing Sen. Johnson's voicemail in 2006 and saying, "Oh, my. Can you imagine lending your voice to those who would kill children? We need to pray for him."

Fast forward to Sen. Johnson's welcome back rally here in Sioux Falls. Sen. Johnson talked about surviving a sudden brain hemorrhage and losing his voice and he said he now has a better appreciation for those who lack "opportunity to reach one’s full potential in life."

I had a few moments to visit with Sen. Johnson in his DC office in May 08. I told him how many in our church, including me from the pulpit, were praying for his full and speedy recovery - but, that I had a question for him. I reminded him of his comment about having a new appreciation for those who don't have the opportunity to reach their full potential in life. I asked him if his physical struggles have given him pause to rethink his position on the plight of the unborn as those who also aren't given the opportunity to reach their full potential in life. Long pause, no eye contact. Brief answer… This… is difficult… I do have… greater… appreciation… for women… who find themselves… in crisis pregnancies.

In other words, no.

Contrast that with Joel Dykstra who uses his voice for those without voice - the unborn. Bret Hayworth of the Sioux City Journal blog reports today…

In talking out a host of issues in an hourlong editorial board meeting, Joel Dykstra, the Republican candidate for the South Dakota U.S. Senate seat, spoke about abortion. He firmly holds an anti-abortion stance and voted for the tough abortion law in spring 2006 that South Dakota voters overturned on a ballot measure in November 2006.

Dykstra said the reason abortion is such a contentious issue is because the 1973 Roe V. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision took the matter out of state’s hands, preempting a discussion of the topic. He predicted a Supreme Court decision in the near future will kick the issue back to the individual states to decide. That way, he said, each state’s residents and lawmakers will determine whether abortions would be lawful. A big question in the matter, he said, is determining when life begins.

Here is Dykstra's statement on the LIFE issue that is on his website…

I believe that life begins at conception and that the developing embryo is a unique human life. That fundamental belief leads me to conclude that, even before birth, the unborn child is a person deserving of all the rights and equal protection afforded to any other person. As an elected official I have supported and will continue to support state legislation that protects life. The federal government and the courts should allow the citizens of the individual states to decide for themselves what laws they want to adopt to regulate abortion in their state. This is the policy that existed prior to Roe vs. Wade and the policy that should prevail again. In the Senate I will support confirmation of justices to the Supreme Court who are strict constructionists, rather than jurists who are likely to stretch cases before them to legislate from the bench.

A vote for Joel Dykstra is a vote for LIFE. A vote for Tim Johnson is to become complicit in the shedding of judicially innocent blood. Your vote is a voice for those who have no voice.