At 55 years, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life is the oldest and largest pro-life organization in the state. It is probably best known for its legislative and political work. But the majority of its work is “educational in nature,” said Cathy Blaeser, its co-executive director.
Blaeser, a parishioner of All Saints in Lakeville, recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to update listeners on MCCL’s initiatives and other ways to “move the laws back to pro-life laws like we had prior to January of this year” in Minnesota, she said, referring to “the extreme pro-abortion policies that Governor Walz and the … DFL leadership put into place in Minnesota.”
MCCL representatives are traveling the state conducting meetings on “Save the 12,000,” Blaeser said, which focuses on what happened in the most recent Minnesota legislative session and “what we need to do to … work back toward a pro-life Minnesota,” she said. The 12,000 refers to the number of abortions in Minnesota in 2022, an increase from about 10,000 each year for the previous five to seven years, she said.
If people don’t know of a “Save the 12,000” meeting near them, Blaeser suggests calling MCCL at 612-825-6831 and the organization will schedule one.
“We want to be out there talking to every Minnesotan to give hope, to equip you with the tools to have these conversations, and to motivate and energize you,” she said.
MCCL also recently launched a Center for Pro-life Minnesota, and is conducting outreach to youth, churches and various ethnic communities “to try to again bring Minnesota back to a pro-life culture,” Blaeser said.
She also encourages the faithful to make plans to attend the Jan. 22, 2024, March for Life at the State Capitol in St. Paul, which she said will include a “very visual and impactful commemoration of the 12,175 babies that were aborted in Minnesota in 2002.” “Fetal models” of those 12,175 babies will be “appropriately divided between races and ethnicity, appropriately divided by ‘less than 15 weeks,’ and then late-term abortions,” Blaeser said. “So we’ll have larger babies to indicate the just under 700 late-term abortions that happened in 2022, just here in Minnesota,” she said.
A program on the Capitol steps follows the march.
To learn more about the pro-life cause and how to get involved, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Oct. 20 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. Oct. 21 and 2 p.m. Oct. 22. To learn more about MCCL, visit MCCL.org.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Kathleen Osberger who shares stories from her missionary work abroad as the Church approaches World Mission Sunday Oct. 21 and Oct. 22; and Ron Snyder, president of the Newman Society of America, who discusses the life of St. John Henry Newman.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
