By AlaskaWatchman.com

While both State House candidates running in Anchorage’s District 12 will automatically advance out of the Aug. 20 primary to November’s general election, the ultimate outcome of this race will help determine the fate of unborn Alaskans who are in danger of a violent death by abortion.

The incumbent is Rep. Calvin Schrage, a staunch advocate of abortion who is “proudly endorsed” by Planned Parenthood. On the other hand, Joseph Lurtsema, the only Republican vying for the District 12 seat, is “100 percent pro-life.”

Joseph Lurtsema

But there is much more at stake in this contest than replacing one pro-choice-to-kill vote with a pro-right-to-life vote. That’s because Rep. Schrage has quickly found his way onto the Committee on Committees (CCM) where he can – indirectly but powerfully – promote pro-abortion legislation while preventing pro-life legislation from even coming to the floor. The CCM is routinely composed of a majority of adamantly pro-abortion members, who are careful to structure and staff every House Committee so that pro-choice-to-kill legislators are in the majority there also. The CCM committee assignments are routinely ratified by a large majority of House members, too cowardly or unaware to stem the tide, thus lending their vote to killing any real chance of pro-life legislation even being passed out of committee for a vote, while pro-abortion legislation sails through with ease.

Electing Joseph Lurtsema would be a powerful first step in turning around the appalling chronic failure of our Alaskan Legislature to protect the lives of every unborn Alaskan. He is also pro-PFD, pro-responsible resource development and pro enforcing stricter penalties on criminals. He wants to protect Alaska’s environment from pollution, and he opposes new taxes.

But any incumbent has a powerful advantage, and all it will take for the killing to continue and increase is for pro-life voters in District 12 to fail to vote. For the babies sake, and their families, do more than vote, tell all your friends to support Joseph Lurtsema.

This is only one race among many that will determine the makeup of the Alaska House of Representatives. Unborn babies and their families are literally torn apart by abortion. It is incumbent upon every pro-life voter to discover new pro-life candidates and help them overcome obstacles that these non-incumbents face.

LEARN MORE

— To find out more about Joseph Lurtsema’s positions, click here.

— Contact him at info@lurtsemaforalaska.com or (907) 382-6863.

The views expressed here are those of the author.

Click here to support the Alaska Watchman.

OPINION: Anchorage pro-life voters can help transform the State House by backing Lurtsema

Therese Syren
Therese Syren is a long-time pro-life advocate in Alaska who helped found a local sidewalk counseling outreach outside an Anchorage abortion clinic. She holds a Master's Degree in Catholic Theology and a Pontifical Catechetical Diploma.


10 Comments

  • David Csiki says:

    This is written by a member of the Roman Catholic Church, the greatest organizational abomination in the history of humanity. If not for the R.C.Church we would have had a man on the moon 500 years ago.

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  • Mike says:

    Go Joe !!!!!

  • A Mom says:

    Thank you for laying out the specific dangers the unborn face with a possible re-election of Schrage! I will vote for Joe, and will pass along this article to other persons in my district.

  • George Jefferson says:

    This is complete nonsense. I am not opposing Joe Lurtsema for this seat, but the argument is utterly spurious. 4 of the 5 members of the Committee on Committees are conservative pro-life Republicans. https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Committee/Details/33?code=HCCM
    Speaker Cathy Tilton, Rules Chair Craig Johnson, Finance Co-Chair DeLena Johnson and Majority Whip Rep. George Rauscher have a long-standing history of supporting anti-abortion/pro-life measures. Joe Lurtsema refused to answer the Alaska Family Action survey to take positions on these critical issues.
    https://akvoter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-Primary-Election-Voter-Guide-Region-2_v2.pdf
    Rep. Calvin Schrage was included on the Committee on Committees because he was the Minority Leader. This is a committee composed of Majority and Minority leadership. To suggest that Lurtsema would replace Schrage, if he won, is not accurate. It is also inaccurate to suggest this committee has control over bills that go to the floor. This is some weird amalgamation of conflated logic by Rep. David Eastman that ignores that he is reviled by the entire House because of his narcissistic and toxic behavior.

  • zunny says:

    Female health care decisions should be made by the female and the physician. NOT THE GOVERNMENT TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT DO WITH THEIR OWN BODY. These types of policies caused a 13% rise in infant death mortality rates in Texas and congenital anomalies have increased resulting in more deaths, higher medical costs for the families, loss of reproductive organs, and sometimes lives. Texas released a report with all the details. These types of policies are killing women, infants, and families across the nation. Stop attempting to control other people. Do you not see the problem with your own party trying to control you – wake up! Read Project 2025!

    • Let the sheep cull themselves says:

      Every civilized human knows that conception comes after intercourse. If pregnancy is so life threatening, then stop having sex. You are literally killing yourselves by having sex, if this is the logic you follow. Stop it.
      If for leftists, children are dying left and right, maybe it is the parents who are to blame.

      On a side note, to those actually paying attention, Doctors are no longer the authority of health matters. All approval comes from the insurance companies now.

      Don’t believe me? Talk to your doctor.

    • Bye bye baby says:

      Also, the human embryo is not your body. It belongs to itself. If you allow yourself to slay your own offspring, the government is not the monster, you are.

  • DaveMaxwell says:

    Get your chalk and fight , pictures on the sidewalk!

  • jon says:

    Women, vote Schrage to protect your rights