by Kate Scanlon

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2020 / 04:00 pm MT (CNA).- The growing number of pro-life women in Congress demonstrates the growing consensus that opposition to abortion is part of a holistic platform to support women, Representative-elect Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) told Catholic News Agency in an interview this week.

“This is about being pro-woman, this is about helping women, about supporting women,” Fischbach said of the pro-life agenda, “not just telling them, ‘here, go kill your child.’ This is about making sure that they understand we will accept their child and support them. Being there to help them, to support them, saying, ‘this is a gift from God, let us help you,’ that’s being supportive.”

Eighteen women who ran on a pro-life platform were newly elected to Congress last month.

“This is a stellar group of members elect, there’s all kinds of wonderful experience, and I’m excited to have them as part of Congress,” Fischbach said.

Fischbach, who was the first female president of the Minnesota state senate, also served as the lieutenant governor of the state before defeating Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) last month. Peterson served in Congress for three decades and was chair of the House Agriculture Committee.

Fischbach said she and her husband have two grown children, five grandchildren, with a sixth on the way. She said her priorities as she begins her first term include economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, rural broadband for Minnesota, and protection for the unborn.

Asked if there will be opportunities to protect life in legislation during a Biden administration and in a House under Democratic control, Fischbach said, “we will continue to fight,” adding she has “wonderful” reinforcements in her fellow pro-life members-elect.

“We will make sure we are protecting things like the Hyde Amendment,” she said. “You know, we will keep our options open and make sure that if the opportunity does arise that we are able to do things.”

“I worked in both the majority and the minority while I was in the Minnesota senate so I understand how to get things done in both of those situations,” she added. “So I will continue to work and make sure that we’re pushing things when we have the opportunity and fighting things when we need to.”

Fischbach also said her Catholic faith is an important part of her life.

“I think it shapes so much, so much about how you look at things and how you approach things and even that the fact that the Catholic Church is pro-life and promotes a pro-life agenda, just means so much,” she said. “It’s so fundamental and so much falls in place for the way you live, the way you present yourself, not only running, but how you live your life.”