Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz Signs ‘Abortion-up-to-Birth’ Bill

Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill on Tuesday which enshrines the “right” to  abortion without limits, making the state the first in the nation to codify abortion via legislative action since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

“Last November, Minnesotans spoke loud and clear: They want their reproductive rights protected – not stripped away,” Walz said. “Today, we are delivering on our promise to put up a firewall against efforts to reverse reproductive freedom. No matter who sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court, this legislation will ensure Minnesotans have access to reproductive health care for generations to come. Here in Minnesota, your access to reproductive health care and your freedom to make your own health care decisions are preserved and protected.”

The bill, called H.F. 1 or the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, was created to cement in state law the “right” to access reproductive health care options including abortion, birth control, family planning help, and sterilization. 

Abortion was already legal in Minnesota through the second trimester.  The bill’s author, Sen. Jennifer McEwen (D) said the bill enshrines abortion access, no matter what future courts decide. 

“The decisions of our courts, the upholding of our fundamental human rights, are only as strong as the judges that uphold them,” McEwen said. 

“We have a duty to answer the call of Minnesotans to truly protect those reproductive freedoms, to enshrine them not simply in case law, but in our statutory law,” she continued. “These are our values, this is the practice in Minnesota. This is what we believe.”

The state Senate voted 34-33 in favor of the bill on Saturday following 14 hours of debate. Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson lamented its passage at the time, calling it “the most extreme bill in the country regarding youth sterilization, late term abortions and public viability for a vast array of new reproductive rights.”

 

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) blasted law as “extreme, inhumane, and harmful to women and children who deserve so much better.” 

“The PRO Act means a right to abort any baby for any reason at any time up to birth. It means that the elective killing of a human being in utero is perfectly legal even in the third trimester of pregnancy, when the child can feel excruciating pain and could live outside the womb. It means that parents have no right to know when their teenage daughter has been taken to undergo an abortion,” said MCCL Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser.

“Gov. Walz’s absolutist abortion policy puts Minnesota in the company of just a small handful of countries around the world, including North Korea and China. It is extreme, inhumane, and harmful to women and children who deserve so much better,” Blaeser continued.

MCCL pointed to a recent 2022 poll from KSTP/Survey USA showing that, contrary to Democrats’ radical abortion-on-demand agenda, only 30 percent of Minnesotans think abortion should always be legal. The pro-life group also noted that lawmakers “rejected dozens of amendments that would have made the bill less extreme,” including one protecting unborn babies in the third trimester (with exceptions), one barring partial-birth abortions, and one providing the option of anesthesia when unborn children can feel pain. Another proposed amendment would have required third-trimester abortions to take place in a hospital and would have required abortion facilities to be licensed by the state.

“This law doesn’t just allow late abortion for medical emergencies or hard cases,” Blaeser said. “It allows late abortion for any reason whatsoever, and it’s an open invitation to notorious late abortion practitioners to come to Minnesota to set up shop. Here in Minnesota, you don’t even need to be a doctor or have a licensed facility in order to perform abortions. The lack of guardrails to protect women and children is appalling.”