“We did pass all of the pro-life legislation that we thought was very important whether it be fetal pain, whether it be stem cell research, whether it be human cloning,” Zellers told Minnesota Public Radio. “A lot of these things we passed. Gov. Dayton vetoed those bills.”

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) President Leo LaLonde sent a fundraising letter to supporters last week that lambasted Republican leaders for not pushing pro-life policies hard enough.

“[We] felt confident that House and Senate leaders would insist that at least some of our protective measures would be included in the final budget,” LaLonde’s letter read. “Senate Majority Leader Koch and Speaker of the House Zellers quickly struck a deal with Gov. Dayton, and in the blink of an eye all five pro-life measures that has been passed by nearly two-thirds, veto-proof margin during the legislative session were negotiated away.”

Zellers said the legislature passed the bills desired by pro-lifers, but that Dayton insisted the social issues not be included in the final bills.

A fund created by the South Dakota Legislature in 2005 to defend a controversial anti-abortion bill introduced that year is largely bankrolled by out-of-state donors, one of whom claims to own businesses that belong to Jesus, reports the Argus Leader.

The Life Protection Subfund was initially created in anticipation of legal challenges to a law that, among other provisions, requires a doctor to tell a woman who is about to have an abortion she “has an existing relationship with that unborn human being and that the relationship enjoys protection under the United States Constitution and under the laws of South Dakota.”

The law is being challenged by Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. This month, an appeals court overturned the district court’s previous ruling that the “existing relationship” provision was unconstitutional but agreed to strike down another provision that required doctors to tell patients that women who have abortions are more likely to commit suicide.

Now the Subfund is being used to defend this year’s currently-blocked anti-abortion-rights bill that mandates a 72-hour waiting period for abortion seekers and requires counseling at a crisis pregnancy center. According to funding data provided to The American Independent by Paul Kinsman, commissioner of the South Dakota Bureau of Administration, which oversees the Protect Life Subfund, the fund currently contains $63,387.04.

About $12,000 of that $63,000 was carried over from 2006 donations ranging from $5 to $2,000, half of which were from South Dakota residents or companies. In total, South Dakotans paid for about two-thirds of what was in the fund in 2006.

As of Sept. 26, about $48,000 in donations have gone to the Subfund in 2011. Two-thirds of those donations have come from six other states: Colorado (two donations), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, North Dakota (two donations) and Texas. The majority of those funds were donated by individuals, except for Patrick Davis Consulting in Colorado ($100), the Gerard Health Foundation LLC in Massachusetts ($2,500) and the North Dakota branch of the Knights of Columbus ($100).

The largest contribution – $25,000 — came from just one source, married couple Joseph and Cynthia Brinck.

From the Leader:

Only one Joe Brinck is listed in Ohio phone directories, and he is CEO of Stelter and Brinck LTD, a manufacturer of industrial process heat equipment and president of Superior Thermal Ltd., a manufacturer’s representative agency selling industrial-gas burners and controls, according to company websites.

Joe Brinck also is on the board of directors of an organization he founded, Ruah Woods. Its mission is to restore family and renew the culture using Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, according to the organization’s website.

Under Joe Brinck’s biography on the site, he states, “My businesses belong to Jesus, and we state so in our corporate minutes and our mission and vision statements. We use our businesses to evangelize our employees, customers and suppliers. We use the profits to support pro-life organizations.”

Even though the money in the Subfund does not come close to covering the state’s court costs -– according to the Argus Leader, the South Dakota attorney general’s office estimates legal challenges to this year’s anti-abortion-rights law could cost between $2 million and $4 million -– the attorney general has not dipped into the Subfund because of help from anti-abortion-rights organizations such as Alpha Center, a CPC in Sioux Falls. And even though the money has yet to be used, the existence of the fund remains controversial.

The divide doesn’t split neatly by party. Even with a DFL-dominated legislature, anti-abortion and pro-choice numbers are close, as many greater Minnesota DFLers side with Republicans on the issue. Perhaps no other issue could cause a DFLer to break ranks and vote against the re-election of House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, but that’s what happened last week when DFL Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba from Long Prairie was the lone DFL objector because Kelliher is pro-choice and Otremba anti-abortion.

Pro-choice advocates see an opportunity this year to promote family-planning programs. Anti-abortion groups look to stop taxpayer funds for such initiatives and put controversial bills up for a vote.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life launches its legislative agenda each year at the March for Life at the Capitol on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion. Each year the event brings out big-name politicians. Last year featured Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. Democratic Reps. James Oberstar and Collin Peterson often send letters of support that are read to the gathered crowd. It’s rare that Gov. Tim Pawlenty doesn’t make an appearance.

This year, MCCL has an agenda that includes protecting Positive Alternatives, a state-funded program that helps women with unintended pregnancies find alternatives to abortion. The group says that the program has helped reduce the rate of abortion in the state. Supporters fear its funding might be cut in order to close the state’s budget deficit.

With little possibility of moving out of DFL-dominated committees, several other MCCL initiatives serve a different purpose: to embarrass pro-choice legislators in swing districts. A ban on saline abortions tops their agenda. This rarely used abortion technique has fallen out of favor with most physicians and constitutes 0.8 percent of procedures in the United States.

The bill to ban the procedure, which was introduced last session, didn’t make it out of committee. But the MCCL often cites votes against it, either in committee or if it makes it to a floor vote, in its campaign literature.

MCCL representatives declined to talk with the Minnesota Independent about the group’s legislative agenda or their take on what the session has in store for the anti-abortion movement.

On its Web site, the group claimed it had achieved “nearly all pro-life” goals in the 2008 elections, increasing the number of state legislators opposed to abortion and defeating pro-choice legislators.

Tim Stanley, senior director of government and public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, explained the strategy behind a bill such as a saline abortion ban:

“They use these to try and make legislators look bad. That’s been their agenda for some time. They offer these bills that have no chance of passing and then use the votes against opponents.”

And, despite a strong year for progressive voters, the strategy worked.

“They ran campaigns against [Rep.] Ken Tschumper [DFL-La Crescent] and [Rep.] Shelley Madore [DFL-Apple Valley] saying they took ’19 votes to kill babies,’” said Stanley. “They make it difficult for people in close legislative districts.”

The MCCL Web site says the group targeted Tschumper and Madore because of their efforts to de-fund Positive Alternatives.

With a looming budget battle, fiscal issues will take priority in the politics of abortion. Planned Parenthood hopes to save the Prevention First Initiative, a state-funded program that provides family planning services as a tool to prevent abortion and unintended pregnancy. It’s a program signed into law in 2007 by Pawlenty, who is a strong supporter of MCCL.

“I give the governor credit for that one,” said Stanley. “I think the governor recognizes that you save money in the long term when you make an investment to prevent unintended pregnancy.” Stanley said programs like Prevention First save $4 in social services costs for every dollar spent.

With a budget battle in which leaders say “everything is on the table,” Stanley hopes to keep the program going. He says that 86 percent of the families and individuals have low incomes and are able to take advantage of the program at little or no cost.

For both sides, the Legislature is close. The Senate has a more pro-choice lean, while the House is closer with several DFLers whose commitment to either side is questionable and whose votes could make the difference. In short, the politics of abortion will remains highly contested in St. Paul.