Minnesota’s restrictions on its abortion laws include counseling for women who are considering the procedure and parental notification in the case of minors. Other laws up for debate have caused fierce disagreements between pro-life and pro-choice camps.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, has vetoed legislation based on his pro-choice beliefs, including two vetoes in 2012,
The Huffington Post reported. Dayton prevented a law that would require the state to license healthcare facilities that provide 10 or more abortions a month.
“The legislation targets only facilities which provide abortions,” he wrote in his veto. “No clinic or procedure should be the focus of special and unique regulatory requirements.”
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He also vetoed a bill that would have required doctors to be physically present for the prescribing of contraceptive pills instead of through video means at another facility.
“Minnesota’s laws should not target or restrict the Constitutional rights of women,” Dayton wrote.
Here is what others in the state have said about abortion laws:
“I believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. And during the Clinton Administration, the number of abortions declined every year. Why? Because under President Clinton, our government understood that the best way to prevent abortions is to prevent unwanted pregnancies.”
— U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, a Democrat, Minnesota Public Radio
“Victims of human trafficking face high rates of sexual assault and unintended pregnancy, and more than half of trafficking survivors report seeking abortion.”
— Planned Parenthood Advocate, in thanking Minnesota Senators Franken and Amy Klobuchar for voting no to a bill that would deny victims of human trafficking access to funding for abortion
Pro-life groups praised the state’s Woman’s Right to Know law, which provides information to women seeking abortions about the medical facts, risks and complications involved.
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“This protracted fight to inform and empower women was well worth the effort, and remains a reminder that through perseverance, justice for women can be achieved.”
— Scott Fischbach, executive director for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, LifeNews.com
“Libertarians are split on this issue, but we all agree this is not a government issue, but a social one in which people must help one another directly. Personally, I would encourage women, on my own, to consider adoption, and if after an abortion consider tubal ligation, birth control methods, condoms, and even abstinence. I do not see abortion as a means of birth control as a right.”
— Heather Johnson, who ran unsuccessfully for Franken’s senate seat in 2014 as a Libertarian candidate, On The Issues