By Steven Ertelt Governor Tim Pawlenty is getting credit from the pro-life organization in his state with paving the way for today's announcement by the Minnesota health department that abortions have dropped again to a historic low. As LifeNews.com reported, Minnesota abortions dropped another seven percent to their lowest levels since 1975, thanks in part to an innovative law the former governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate signed that paves the way for state funding for groups that provide women with abortion alternatives. The Positive Alternatives program has provided thousands of women practical pregnancy support and assistance -- women who may otherwise have felt they had no financial option other than abortion in an unplanned pregnancy situation. "Pro-life laws save lives and the legislation that Governor Pawlenty signed into law directly is saving lives in our state," Minnesota Citizens for Life executive director Scott Fischbach told LifeNews.com. "Under Governor Pawlenty's leadership we now have the lowest abortion number and rate since 1975," he said. "Last year's decrease of 7.1% was the biggest drop since 1983. We also saw a 16.8% drop in minors abortions -- these drops don't occur in these hard economic times without pro-life laws being in place." "Governor Pawlenty was a stalwart pro-life leader who enacted pro-life laws and today, thousands of Minnesotans are alive because of his love of life," he added. Alex Conant, the Pawlenty presidential campaign press secretary, told LifeNews that the former Minnesota governor is proud of his record and appreciates seeing the results of the pro-life legislation he implemented with the state legislature during his tenure, which ended earlier this year. "As Governor, Tim Pawlenty supported and enacted several important pro-life measures, including the Woman's Right to Know Act, the Unborn Child Pain Prevention Act and the Positive Alternatives Act, which have made a significant difference," Conant said. "The Governor believes we must take it upon ourselves to protect all life, from unborn to the elderly. He is proud of the work we did in Minnesota to move the state in a pro-life direction." The annual Abortion Report shows a total of 11,505 abortions were done in Minnesota in 2010, more than seven percent fewer than the 12,388 done in 2009. The 2010 total is the lowest number on record since two years after the Roe v. Wade decision released by the U.S. Supreme Court struck down pro-life laws protecting women and unborn children across the country. The report covering abortions from last year covers the final full year of Pawlenty's two terms as Minnesota's governor. During his time as governor, Pawlenty built up a sterling pro-life record and worked closely with Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life to advocate the pro-life position. He named Eric Magnuson, an attorney who has worked with pro-life groups, the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and told Minnesota agencies to reject Obamacare, which could fund abortions. He signed the Woman's Right to Know Act, which requires informed consent and a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion. The law was the strongest informed consent law in the country at the time, and Minnesota was the first state in the nation to ensure that women be provided with information on the ability of their unborn child to feel pain. Pawlenty also signed into law the Positive Alternatives program passed by the state legislature in 2005 with the support of pro-life groups. The law, which provides state funding for pregnancy centers that help women with pregnancy support and abortion alternatives, has already proven successful in lowering the number of abortions. The Minnesota Department of Health shows 13,037 women received services from the Positive Alternatives grant during the second grant cycle of the program, running from July 2008 through June 2010. More than 12,000 pregnant women were helped during the first two-year grant cycle, July 2006-June 2008. The Pawlenty-supported positive alternatives program is credited with dropping Minnesota abortions, in 2009, to the lowest point since 1975. In April 2010, Pawlenty declared the month as Abortion Recovery/Awareness Month to help women negatively affected by their abortions. Pawlenty also pleased pro-life advocates on bioethics issues by vetoing the Kahn-Cohen Cloning Bill in May 2008, which would have legalized human cloning and forced taxpayers to pay for the destruction of human life. He also signed, in May 2009, a bill to ban taxpayer funding of human cloning. "We stand for protecting life and want to promote and celebrate a culture of life in Minnesota and in the United States of America. We stand up for those who have no voice," Pawlenty has said. "We have a responsibility to defend the life of the innocent and the powerless. We must take it upon ourselves to protect all individuals in every stage of life, from the unborn to the elderly." Pawlenty's track record has won him accolades from pro-life advocates, with Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser saying "The governor's actions on behalf of Minnesota women and unborn children are exemplary." Scott Fischbach of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life added, "Under the leadership of Gov. Pawlenty, Minnesota now has the lowest teen abortion rate ever, and the lowest number of abortions performed since 1975. I know first-hand the lives that Tim Pawlenty saved as my governor."

By Tim Pawlenty Democrats are saying we have no choice but to spend more and raise taxes, and they are willing to shut down government if they don't get their way. That's the scene in both our nation's and Minnesota's capitals, where Republicans are rightly taking a strong stand against out-of-control government. Minnesota Democrats have shut down the state's government after the Republican-led legislature refused to agree to massive spending increases and tax hikes. In Washington, President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are using the debt ceiling debate to threaten default if their thirst for more taxes and spending isn't satisfied. With America facing 9.2 percent unemployment and anemic economic growth, the last thing we need is more government. We need to balance government budgets by cutting spending and rejecting tax increases. This can be done in both Minnesota and Washington, but only if Republicans draw a line in the sand and stand firm against more spending and taxes. That's what I did as governor of Minnesota, where I balanced every budget without tax increases and left the state with an estimated $663 million surplus for the budget period that ended last month. It wasn't easy: We made tough choices to prioritize programs and cut spending. We passed market-based health care reforms, pay-for-performance for teachers, public employee pension reforms and more to get the state's finances under control. This was a big change for my state, where out-of-control spending used to be the norm. In the four decades before I became governor, the biennial budget increase averaged over 20 percent. I put a stop to that with a record number of vetoes, the first government shutdown in the state's history, and one of the longest transit strikes in American history. During my time as governor, the state's spending increased at an annual rate of a bit over 1 percent -- and we actually cut spending in the last two years for the first time ever. Sadly, now some politicians want to return to the era of out-of-control spending increases. For example, former Vice President Walter Mondale, who lost his 1984 campaign in a landslide after promising to raise taxes, and former Gov. Arne Carlson, who endorsed John Kerry and Barack Obama, are leading a charge to raise taxes and justify new spending. Like the dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park", their ideas are from a bygone era and have no place in today's debate. The same can be said of the Democrats in Washington who want more spending and taxes as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling. For the first two years of President Obama's administration, federal spending increased by over 20 percent -- just like it did every two years in Minnesota before I became governor. It was unsustainable when Minnesota did it, and it's unsustainable while Washington is doing it. In my experience, most politicians are like running water -- they flow to the path of least resistance. That's why the debt ceiling debate in Washington is so important and why we cannot allow it to increase without game-changing reforms to our federal budget. Let's start with a balanced budget amendment, a cap on federal spending levels and real cuts to this year's budget. Our nation is sinking in a sea of red ink. At every level, governments' are facing big deficits as the weak economy diminishes tax revenues at the very same time that the bill is coming due on decades of irresponsible spending increases, entitlement promises and pension promises. As I proved in Minnesota, these problems can be solved without tax increases. It just takes resolve, leadership and the conviction that lower taxes and less government will ultimately spur higher economic growth and job creation.

By Tim Pawlenty How did you enjoy your economic recovery last summer? Well, that's what President Barack Obama said we were having. He wrongly thought the stimulus, the bailouts and the takeovers were the solution. He said they worked. The federal government's addiction to spending must be brought to a halt and we must have a president who has a growth agenda with pro-growth policies. America's economy is not even growing at 2 percent -- and that's what many projections say we can expect for the next decade. That's not acceptable. Let's start with a big, positive goal. Let's grow the economy by 5 percent, instead of an anemic 2 percent. It's been done before: Between 1983 and 1987, the Reagan recovery grew at 4.9 percent annually. Between 1996 and 1999, under President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress, the economy grew at around 4.7 percent annually. In each case, millions of jobs were created, incomes rose and unemployment fell to historic lows. The same can happen again. How do we do it? Our economy will never grow at 5 percent laboring under a federal tax code that is hostile to business. American businesses pay the second highest tax rates in the world. That's a recipe for failure, not adding jobs and economic growth. We should cut the corporate tax rate by more than half. I propose reducing the rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, recognizing that the tax code is littered with special interest handouts, carve-outs, subsidies and loopholes that should be eliminated. But just changing business tax rates is not enough. That's because we know most job growth will come from small and medium-size businesses, and their owners are taxed under individual tax rates, not corporate rates. So, pro-job and pro-growth tax reform must include individual tax reform as well. Five percent economic growth over 10 years would generate $3.8 trillion dollars in new tax revenues. With that, we would reduce projected deficits by 40 percent -- all before we made a single budget cut. The next part of my plan deals with that other 60 percent. A balanced federal budget should not just be a political sound bite. As one of 49 governors operating with balanced budget requirements, I balanced every budget in my two terms as governor of Minnesota. I know the only reason the Minnesota legislature ever gave me a balanced budget was because, under Minnesota's Constitution, it had to. That's why I support a constitutional amendment that not only requires a balanced federal budget, but also caps federal spending as a percentage of our economy, around 18 percent of gross domestic product. But passing a constitutional amendment will take awhile. The crisis that we face requires immediate action. That's why I have proposed capping and block-granting Medicaid to the states, raising the Social Security retirement age for the next generation and slowing the rate of growth in defense spending. I will also call for Congress to grant the president the temporary and extraordinary authority to freeze spending at current levels, and impound up to 5 percent of federal spending until the budget is balanced. As an example, cutting even 1 percent of overall federal spending for six consecutive years would balance the federal budget by 2017. There are some obvious targets to cut. We can start by applying what I call "the Google test." If you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn't need to offer the same good or service. What's more, the same competitive efficiency that revolutionized America's private sector over the last three decades should at long last be applied to every corner of the federal bureaucracy. In particular, one efficiency program, Lean Six Sigma, already has a proven track record of using performance-based management practices to streamline organizational programs at the CIA, the Pentagon, and -- as I can personally attest -- various agencies of the Minnesota state government. If we applied this approach throughout all federal agencies, we could save up to 20 percent in many of the programs' budgets. Cutting taxes and spending is only the beginning. The real slog of the next administration will be an unrelenting trench battle against overregulation. Obamacare, financial reform and Environmental Protection Agency overreach are all weighing down our economy; we should require sunsetting of all federal regulations, unless sustained by a vote of Congress. We can fix our economy. Our people are ready to get back to work. We just need to give them tools to get there and to get the government out of the way. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is a Republican candidate for president.