Minnesota governor to sign bill to codify right to abortion without restrictions
Abigail Adcox
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) is set to sign a bill Tuesday that will codify a “fundamental right” to abortion, contraception, and fertility treatments, legislation that Republican state lawmakers have claimed is “extreme” and would allow women to terminate pregnancies up until birth.
The Democratic-controlled state legislature passed the Protect Reproductive Options Act or PRO Act on Saturday, which would establish that every individual has the right to make “autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health,” including abortion, birth control, sterilization, fertility treatments, and prenatal care, as the state moves to become a safe haven for abortion access in wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling legalizing abortion nationwide.
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It also prohibits local governments from passing ordinances infringing access to those services.
Walz said Tuesday morning he would sign it.
Walz’s signature would mark the first time the state has expressly included the right to an abortion in state law, though abortion rights have been protected in the state since 1995 when the state Supreme Court ruled in Doe v. Gomez that the state constitution guarantees a right to terminate a pregnancy. Democratic lawmakers fast-tracked the law after the June Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe, citing the need to provide an additional safeguard around abortion access.
“Minnesota will become a national leader for reproductive freedom and equity and improved public health overall once our rights are codified into state law,” said Dr. Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood North Central States.
Planned Parenthood North Central States has said its local clinics have seen a 13% rise in patients coming from out of state since the Supreme Court decision last June.
Republican state lawmakers have called on the governor to veto the bill, objecting that it does not place restrictions on abortions. Republicans proposed several amendments to the bill that would have restricted abortion in the third trimester of pregnancy with exceptions for the life of the mother, created a ban on “partial-birth abortion,” and required that all facilities that provide abortions be licensed, but they failed.
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“Under current law, abortion is illegal in Minnesota after viability. If the health or life of the mother was in danger, late-term abortions must be performed in a hospital. The PRO Act allows abortion services far beyond these commonsense, consensus guidelines,” Republican legislative leaders wrote in a letter to the governor.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported one abortion performed after 25 weeks of pregnancy in both 2020 and 2021.