Why is this primary election so important? It is the first election that we are faced with term limits for lawmakers. That means 62 (over one half) of the state House seats are vacant. Plus in a number of state Senate seats, the incumbent is being challenged by a term-limited state representative.

All of these facts are important to prolife citizens because:

it is prolife legislators who introduce and vote for life-saving legislation and defeat proabortion measures.

Nearly two-thirds of the "open seats" are presently held by prolife legislators and we could lose the present prolife majority if we can't successsfully replace them with strong prolife men and women.

Besides vacation plans, other reasons for the low turn out can be attributed to the misconception that the primary election isn't that important. How many times have you heard some one say, "I'll wait until the November election to vote."

In many places in our state, the primary election is really the only election that counts. Some House and Senate seats are in such overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican areas that the opposite party doesn't stand a chance of winning. For example, in some Detroit area districts 80-90 percent of the voters always vote for the Democratic candidate; in some west Michigan districts the same percentages always vote Republican.

With so few people choosing to vote in primary elections, those who do vote have a great impact. Just think how important that is for prolife candidates if prolife voters get to the polls in August.

This August primary election will impact all of our future legislative endeavors; it will determine the successes or failures of the prolife movement. Some people who shrink from being involved in the political process forget that prolife laws save lives.

One of the reasons abortions have declined nearly 40 percent in Michigan is because laws have been passed to:

end the use of tax monies for abortions and prevent secret teen abortions.

Voting for prolife candidates translates into the passage of prolife legislation which equals saving lives.

RLM members helped make this all happen with consistent telephone calls and letters to lawmakers.  The votes were overwhelming for these bills, crossing partisan lines.

In another victory, Michigan became the first state in the union to craft a solid, life-protecting ban against certain, barbaric methods of cloning.

Prolife lawmakers knew that Bill Clinton's concept of a ban would allow the creation and destruction of human embryos -- and it only banned the "creation of a child" for five years. They saw through the fraudulent ban and created one that does what it says.