Jim Minnery: Alaska needs an Office of Unborn Advocacy

By JIM MINNERY | ALASKA FAMILY COUNCIL

“Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.”
Ezra 10:4

With the incredible success of the 2026 Alaska March for Life in the rearview mirror, let’s shift our focus to what can be done politically with the civil rights issue of our time. Boots on the ground we culturally experienced this past Saturday are also needed in the highest level of state government.

Proponents of abortion are certainly engaged to be sure.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has directed state resources and staff to build a mega abortion facility and train future abortionists.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has heavily staffed abortion rights initiatives and focused staff resources on establishing California as a “refuge state” for those living in states where protections for the unborn are in place.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has prioritized a “whole-of-government” approach, directing state agencies and specialized staff to secure access to abortion medication, specifically stockpiling mifepristone. Her administration has paid staff committed to lead efforts against pregnancy resource centers and to ensure abortion is widely available.

New York Gov.Kathy Hochul employs a dedicated working group that meet regularly on how to expand abortion in her state including sitting down with abortion influencers to guide state policy and fund abortion initiatives.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek employs staff specifically tasked with stockpiling abortion drugs and managing state-level legal protections for terminating unborn lives.

In short, governors in blue states all across the country have put social/cultural issues on the front burner not only in their election campaigns and incumbency rhetoric but in their administrations with dedicated, paid staff members to advance a pro abortion agenda they were voted into office to expedite.

Can you blame them ?

Conservative governors, on the other hand, not so much.

Even in red states with pro life Governors in office, think Florida, Texas and Louisiana, salaried positions focusing exclusively on defending the unborn are pretty much non-existent. You could make the argument that in some red states, the Governors have campaigned so successfully to maintain an allied legislature that they don’t need to create these positions. They have willing partners going in the same direction.

But so do California, New York, New Mexico, Massachusetts and all the rest with pro abortion governors and legislatures. So what’s the difference ?

I think it has to do, in some ways, with a small government mentality. A conservative and noble but misguided mindset that believes abortion, while important, is better left to the churches, non-profits and culture at large to resolve. Not something that should or could have taxpayer-funded positions dedicated to. They likely even tell themselves that it’s a “separation of church and state” issue.

This paradigm, however it might exist, is wrong-thinking.

In Alaska, there are 14 executive departments, along with numerous divisions, boards, and commissions, with hundreds of salaried positions managing state functions such as natural resources, public safety, revenue, education, health and human services, transportation and many more. Staff are hired to specifically work in these spheres to impact change.

The hard reality I’ve come to absorb after working in this arena for 20+ years is that no matter how committed, sincere and articulate a Governor may be regarding the issue of protecting unborn lives, there are simply too many distractions that they and their staff face day in and day out to give the matter the attention it rightly deserves. In order to truly and effectively advance the sanctity of life and lift up that which is good (Romans 13), I am convinced more than ever that our next governor, if they happen to embrace a pro life position, must put their money where their mouth is.

In South Dakota, before her rise and fall in the Trump Administration, Gov. Kristi Noem actually threaded the needle and became the first governor in the nation to create a staffed office specifically to advocate for the rights of the unborn. The responsibilities included policy, litigation, legislation, and reaching out to allies all with a laser focus on how she could protect the least of these who have yet to take their first breath. In a conversation I had personally with Noem’s staff member responsible for filling this Office, I asked him if the task was too much for one individual. He told me he could hire five people to do it full time and it wouldn’t be enough.

Even in a red state like South Dakota, the pro abortion forces, in the culture, the courts, the Legislature and in the deep state of Noem’s Administration itself, were working around the clock to make abortion more available. One of the most compelling things he told me was how this office, with direct access to Gov. Noem, would collaborate and pro-actively synergize with existing pro life ministries, pregnancy resource centers, influencers and leaders, in the private and public sectors, to ensure a strategy was being employed to maximize results.

How refreshing, brilliant and obvious.

In our current environment, where people like Chuck Kopp and Louise Stutes in the House and Bert Stedman, Gary Stevens, Kelly Merrick, Cathy Giessel and Jessie Bjorkman in the Senate continue to give power to Democrats beholden to Planned Parenthood, we need a governor to move beyond passion and rhetoric. When our Alaska Supreme Court continues to misinterpret the privacy clause of our State Constitution claiming a “right to abortion” that does not exist, we need something other than what we’ve been getting with public office holders simply believing in the cause.

We need an Office of Unborn Advocacy in the Governor’s office staffed with dedicated, taxpayer-funded, state employees willing to do in Alaska something that is opposite of what progressive governors are doing right now across the country.

Many of the candidates for CEO of the Great Land have pro life beliefs and have tried to move the needle. I know a lot of them and believe they are sincere. But verbal support needs to be translated into resources that generate action.

Now is the time to step it up by agreeing to consecrate pro life creed into a devoted focus that has the potential to actually rescue those being led to slaughter and ensure women know there are options other than terminating the life of their unborn child.

Let’s encourage every pro life candidate for governor to pledge actual financial resources and establish a much-needed Office of Unborn Advocacy.

Jim Minnery is president of Alaska Family Council.