When most candidates run for office they show up an empty slate with no knowledge, understanding, or experience protecting and defending the right to life that God has given to each of us.
Candidates running for reelection are often worse – jaded by politics, their investment in the battle over abortion and other life issues rarely goes beyond whatever lip-service is required to garner “pro-life” votes on the campaign trail.
The truth is that we have been very successful in Alaska when it comes to electing Alaska legislators who identify as Pro-Life. Many elected officials in Alaska have benefited from Pro-Life endorsements, some even earning the title of “Pro-Life Statesmen,” but precious few have met the calling that those endorsements have placed on them.
While many conservative candidates see the political value in collecting endorsements from “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Family” groups, let us not be under any illusion, the vast majority of these candidates are also committed to steering clear of doing anything about abortion that could upset the status quo in Juneau.
To those in Juneau, abortion is a settled issue.
Today, in 2020, Juneau is hostile territory for those in the womb. When we send a Pro-Life legislator to Juneau, we do so knowing that it will not be a pleasant experience for them. Our state officials here in Alaska have been giving taxpayer funding of abortion their tacit approval for decades. Abortion proponents have used that time to erect a series of legal barriers that serve to protect the abortion industry from anything that would negatively impact its bottom line.
Failure to survey the battlefield before charging heedlessly into battle, is insufficient for the responsibility that a Pro-Life endorsement places on our elected representatives.
It is foolishness for new legislators to think that they can put forward legislation and engage in political battle with an entrenched enemy without taking time to understand the legal barriers the abortion industry has put in place, and which have kept Alaska one of the most abortion friendly states in America for nearly half a century.
While some of those politicians may have been insincere about protecting life, others took their endorsements to our state’s capital with good intentions and were simply crushed by the avalanche of opposition they encountered upon arriving in Juneau. Lest there be any doubt, Planned Parenthood and the Pro-Choice establishment are the Goliath in Juneau today. They dominate the battlefield and heap daily scorn and ridicule on those who would oppose their agenda.
And it has worked on most politicians.
But David Eastman is different.
When they made him the special target of their scorn and ridicule, he didn’t flinch.
Every time that Planned Parenthood has attempted to further cement its control over Alaska, David Eastman has stood in opposition. Earlier this year they made plans to permanently dedicate the committee room where Pro-Life bills are heard to an ardent Pro-Abortion legislator. David was the only legislator who opposed the move, and the only legislator who voted “No”.
As a newly-elected legislator, David introduced principled legislation on behalf of our state’s most vulnerable – when every other endorsed “pro-life” legislator turned their back and betrayed their commitment to protect innocent human life.
What makes David different is that when the pro-abortion lobby attacked, and the Planned Parenthood-endorsed legislators sought to punish David, his resolve to protect babies waiting to be born only strengthened.
What distinguishes David from his fellow legislators is that David has been, everywhere and always, a consistent voice for the lives of children in our state capitol. Time and again, he has put forward the bills, amendments, and resolutions that remind Alaskans of the sanctity of human life and our obligation to protect all innocent human life from conception to natural end of life.
What makes David Eastman different – and therefore qualified for Alaska Right to Life’s only endorsement of a sitting legislator, is his proven commitment to advocate on behalf of every Alaskan child waiting to be born, to speak on their behalf, to oppose any action that would threaten their lives, and to put forward legislation that prohibits killing children at any age of life, any stage of development, for any reason.
Alaska Right to Life is proud to endorse David Eastman for his proven leadership in protecting the constitutional right to life of every Alaskan.