ST. PAUL, Minnesota (LifeSiteNews) – Minnesota Democrat Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that he will not act to defend pro-life laws struck down last month by a district court judge, including a 24-hour abortion waiting period, informed consent requirement, and parental notification requirement.
In July, Ramsey County Judge Thomas Gilligan claimed that the measures violated the Minnesota Constitution and “insult” the “intelligence and decision-making capabilities” of abortion seekers. Republican state attorney general candidate Jim Schultz condemned the decision as “judicial activism” and said the AG’s office has a “basic constitutional duty to defend Minnesota law.”
On July 28, Ellison announced that he would not appeal Gilligan’s ruling, claiming an appeal would be “unlikely to obtain a different result” and that letting it stand was “the right choice for Minnesota taxpayers and all Minnesotans who need the finality of knowing that they can make intimate decisions about their own bodies free of undue interference by the government.”
Ellison claimed to have separated his personal support for abortion-on-demand from his responsibility and judgment as Minnesota’s top law enforcement official, but Schultz blasted his decision as a “dereliction of duty … motivated by his far-left politics.”
Yet another dereliction of duty by Keith Ellison. All motivated by his far-left politics.
These bi-partisan statutes are clearly constitutional and Minnesota deserves an Attorney General who will stand up to activist judges. https://t.co/ofeRrveSe3
— Jim Schultz for Minnesota Attorney General (@JimForMN) July 28, 2022
Even before the U.S. Supreme Court allows states to directly ban abortion by striking down Roe v. Wade this year, state laws limiting various aspects of abortion and/or requiring greater deliberation and more information be attached to the decision have been credited with substantially reducing the number of abortions in the United States.
In particular, requirements that those considering abortion be given biological information confirming and detailing the life and humanity of their child has been shown to have a significant impact on whether women ultimately go through with the decision.
Regardless, the ruling reflects plans that pro-abortion activists have mulled for years to root abortion “rights” in state constitutions rather than the U.S. Constitution to insulate it from an eventual fall of Roe.
“A recent poll found that the attorney general’s race could be the most winnable statewide race for Republicans,” the Minnesota-based Alpha News reported in June. It found Schultz and Ellison in a “statistical tie.”