SAINT PAUL (LifeSiteNews) – Minnesota lawmakers are currently mulling legislation to establish a “right” to abortion-on-demand in the North Star State, and recently rejected proposed amendments placing modest limits on the practice.
Alpha News reports that last Thursday, the Minnesota House Health Finance and Policy Committee passed the so-called Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, which asserts a woman’s “fundamental right” to have her preborn son or daughter aborted.
Republican committee members proposed three amendments, one of which would have required second- and third-trimester abortions to be conducted in hospital settings in case of medical risks to the mother, the second of which would have prohibited third-trimester abortions outright, and the third of which would have prohibited partial-birth abortion procedures.
But the committee’s Democrat members rejected all the amendments and approved the PRO Act. It faces approval by other committees before going to the full state House for consideration. Democrats control both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature as well as the governor’s mansion.
“This bill means a ‘right’ to abort any baby for any reason at any time until birth. Women and children deserve so much better,” said Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser. “It is inhumane and well beyond what Minnesotans support. Our elected officials can and must reject the PRO Act for the sake of babies, women, girls, parents, and all of us.”
“If this becomes law, a school counselor can take a student to an abortion clinic without their parents’ knowledge,” added Tim Miller, executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries Action. “An unborn child can be murdered up to one second before they leave their mother’s birth canal. There will be no requirement for an abortion to take place in a clinic setting and a doctor is no longer needed. Regardless of a person’s position on abortion rights, very few Minnesotans agree with this radical agenda.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last June to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to directly prohibit abortion sparked a range of reactions from Democrats and the abortion lobby. Some like Minnesota have moved to secure a “right” to abortion in state laws or state constitutions, making the status quo harder for Republicans to uproot in the future.
Others have responded with anger, threats, violence, and efforts to distribute abortion pills by mail across state lines, and promote interstate travel for abortions. Nationally, Democrats also want to codify unlimited abortion-on-demand in federal law, which would not only restore but expand upon the Roe status quo, by making it illegal for states to pass virtually any pro-life laws.