The Christian Civic League was part of a coalition that attempted to give Maine citizens a chance to veto two horrible bills passed in the last legislative session: Tax-Funded Abortions and Physician-Assisted Suicide. Unfortunately, we were not successful in obtaining the necessary number of signatures to get those bills on the ballot this coming March.
I’ve been asked why I believe we were not successful in this campaign. It’s a very fair question, especially when you consider the campaign to get LD 798 – Mandatory Vaccinations appears to have gotten the necessary number of signatures.
One factor that certainly caused a lot of confusion and potentially weakened our supporters’ enthusiasm was the issues around the secretary of state’s office. When we made application for the Peoples Vetoes regarding Tax-Funded Abortions and Physician-Assisted Suicide, we were told our two realistic options were completing everything by September 18th and appearing on the June 2020 ballot or execute a People’s Initiative with a deadline of February 2nd and appearing on the November 2020 ballot. The June primary was a much more attractive option because media buys would be much less expensive during a primary than during a presidential election. It also appealed to us because succeeding by September 18 would mean that neither of these bills would ever become law.
Significantly into the process, Maine’s Secretary of State, Matt Dunlap, announced that there was an oversight by his office and, in fact, we were now looking at appearing on the March ballot during the presidential Democratic primary if we were to succeed in getting our signatures. I don’t blame this first issue on our inability to get our signatures; however, there is no doubt this change diminished momentum for our efforts.
I also think would it be fair to ask whether our overall strategy was effective. We chose to try to replicate the 2009 People’s Veto of same-sex marriage. Our focus was on Protestant and Catholic churches in Maine gathering signatures before and after their services. In order for this strategy to succeed, we would’ve had to experience a very high level of participation all over the state. That simply wasn’t the case. Despite the enthusiastic and full support of Bishop Deeley and other denominational leaders all over our state, a level of urgency was never established. Those churches that did participate were committed, and they did a thorough and excellent job. There simply were not enough congregations involved.On the Sunday before the September 18 deadline, I asked the leaders of the vaccination campaign what percentage of their signatures came from tabled events similar to our strategy. When they told me they estimated it was somewhere between 5 and 10%, I had great concerns about our chances of succeeding.
I believe this is a significant and relevant difference between our two campaigns. With LD 798, you had mama bears and papa bears that were being told if this bill becomes law, their children would not be able to access education.
Business owners would have to leave the state. Parents were being told by their government that they must risk harming their children without any choice. The specter of LD 798 becoming law motivated those parents and family members to suspend their lives for three months and take on the grueling task of going door-to-door, standing in front of retail establishments, and facing ridicule in public places like fairs and festivals to get the job done
Some people are not going to like what I’m about to say, but for us in the pro-life movement, we were defending a concept- The sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. This was not about our children. Did we care? Were we motivated? I believe the answer to both those questions is yes; however, our commitment level and motivation were not at the same level as parents defending their children and their right to protect their children.
Giving up is not an option. It’s perfectly natural to feel discouraged and disappointed, but advocating for the transcendent truth of Almighty God has little to do with feelings or anything else natural. Are the innocent lives of the unborn and the women caught in Planned Parenthood‘s lies still worthy of our defense? Are the elderly and disabled any less vulnerable? We did not prevail in this battle, but we must, and we will continue to declare the truth of the sanctity of human life and the significance of religious freedom.
As disappointing as it was not to give Maine citizens a chance to overturn tax funded abortions and physician assisted suicide, there were some very encouraging outcomes from the People’s Vetoes campaign:
• we gathered tens of thousands of names and data from like-minded Mainers
• churches who had never participated in such a Campaign help expand our coalition
• hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers were trained and engaged
There is no question in my mind, we are more prepared than ever for the next battle. Please pray for us as we plan and prepare.
Carroll Conley, Jr., Executive Director of the Christian Civic League of Maine. and an 11th generation Mainer. He has a long history in education. During his tenure as Headmaster of Bangor Christian Schools, Carroll served as the President of the Northeast Principal’s Association and was on the Executive Committee of the Maine Principal’s Association. Carroll and his wife Terri, married since 1980, have two married sons, and five grandchildren.
