Since mid-March, hospitals across Minnesota have been postponing elective surgeries in order to conserve personal protective equipment (PPE) during COVID-19, but throughout this time, abortion providers have received special treatment and have been exempted from following the rules that all Minnesota healthcare workers are being asked to follow. While other elective surgeries are being put on hold, the abortion industry is continuing business as usual, using up valuable PPE with no interference from the State. Thomas More Specialty Counsel Erick Kaardal points out that this is not only unsafe, but irresponsibly wasteful.
In response to this double-standard, a coalition of doctors and concerned Minnesotans have filed a lawsuit against Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota Health Department Commissioner Jan Malcolm, and the five abortion facilities operating in Minnesota. In the complaint they point out that Governor Walz has not required the abortion industry to follow the same standard as everyone else, writing that,
The State’s decision to allow surgical abortions to continue… is wasting PPE and aggravating the spread of COVID-19 by undermining the State’s social-distancing efforts. This is threatening the lives of COVID-19 patients and the health-care workers who treat them.
The complaint goes on to argue that the special status given to the abortion industry is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, saying,
A State may curtail the exercise of constitutional rights to prevent the spread of a deadly pandemic, but it cannot give special status to politically favored rights such as abortion when rights that actually appear in the Constitution—such as the right to free exercise of the religion and right of people to peaceably assemble—are being subordinated to the State’s COVID-19 prevention measures.
The political favoritism being leveraged on behalf of the abortion industry is unacceptable. They are not providing an essential service, but are acting for their own profit while disregarding public safety. If everyone else is being asked to accept restrictions in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19, there is no good reason that the abortion industry should be exempted.
