Joe Teirab spoke to Republican voters at a debate in Prior Lake's Twin Oakes Middle School on Jan. 18, 2024. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer.
Republican U.S. House candidate Joe Teirab’s anti-abortion views run so deep that he attributes his very existence to anti-abortion advocates.
Teirab’s mother almost got an abortion when she found out she was pregnant with him. She went to New Life Family Services — a Minnesota crisis pregnancy center — and “by the grace of God” they “encouraged her to have me,” Teirab said during a GOP candidate debate in January.
“And so now, here I am. And I’m on the board of that crisis pregnancy center, and I’m honored to do it. I am pro-life, because all life is precious and all life is created in the image of God,” Teirab said. Crisis pregnancy centers are medical clinics that seek to deter women from getting an abortion.
Teirab, a son of a Sudanese immigrant, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and was both a county and federal prosecutor before running for Congress. Teirab won Tuesday’s Republican primary, and he now faces U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota’s most competitive district. In May, the Cook Political Report moved the 2nd District from “likely Democrat” to merely leaning that way — indicating the race will likely be close again.
Democrats immediately broadcast Teirab’s previous anti-abortion statements and his New Life Family Services board seat. Abortion remains a winning issue for Democrats, and the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has painted him as an anti-abortion zealot, even though he has never held public office.
Teirab now says if elected to represent Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, he’d oppose a federal abortion ban. In a statement to the Reformer , Teirab said abortion is a state issue.
“Let me be perfectly clear on this: This is a state issue, not a federal issue, and I would vote against any federal ban or restrictions on abortion,” Teirab said. “I am personally pro-life with the exceptions of rape, incest, and life of the mother, but that doesn’t change the fact that this isn’t a federal issue. Anybody who tries to paint my position as the contrary is being deliberately dishonest.”
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His opposition to a federal abortion ban, however, would seem to contradict his responses earlier this year to a candidate questionnaire of a prominent Minnesota anti-abortion group.
Teirab’s answers to a candidate survey from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life indicate he favors giving the federal government a role in abortion policy.
Teirab answered “yes” in response to a question about whether he “recognized a federal role in protecting unborn children” and whether he would “vote for chemical abortion legislation related to restricting its use, supporting the collecting and reporting of data on complications, or increasing safeguards for women.”
“Chemical abortion” is how anti-abortion advocates refer to the common two-drug process for ending a pregnancy. (Medical authorities call it “medication abortion.”) This method was used in more than 60% of all abortions nationwide in 2023, according to Guttmacher . One of the drugs — mifepristone — is under legal assault by abortion foes, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that opponents lacked sufficient standing to get the drug off the market.
New Life Family Services — where Teirab serves on the board — operates First Care Pregnancy Centers, which have locations throughout the Twin Cities and in Rochester. First Care on its website promotes “abortion pill reversal” — a practice that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists calls “unproved and unethical.”
Teirab in the questionnaire also said he would vote against bills that “would weaken any pro-life law or policy.”
Teirab has been an anti-abortion advocate since his college years, when he was the executive director of the Cornell University Republicans. In a 2009 Cornell Daily Sun article, a reporter quoted Teirab about a campus anti-abortion lecture. Teirab told the reporter that “I can see where the pro-choice people are coming from, but the unborn have a right to life too, regardless of the conception … The government should support women more comprehensively and give women resources collectively.”
In his statement to the Reformer, Teirab advocated for crisis pregnancy centers and said they should be better supported.
“I’m only here today because of the love and support a pregnancy resource center showed my mom when she was pregnant with me and I’m honored to now serve on the board of that same pregnancy resource center,” Teirab said. “We should be looking for ways to expand health care access for expectant mothers, and one way we can do that is by supporting pregnancy resource centers.”
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