Last week the Minnesota House voted in favor of the “PRO” Act, a bill that creates a “right” to abortion up until birth in Minnesota. With the Senate debating this bill on the floor today, another lethal abortion bill is quickly making its way through the Minnesota legislature. HF 91 and its companion bill, SF 70, acts as a “how to” for the PRO Act, moving from the broad “rights” language of HF 1 to specific abortion expansions. HF 91 would make Minnesota one of the most extreme abortion states in the nation, depriving unborn babies of any and all protections under law and even allowing infanticide.
In committee, the author of this extreme bill was asked “When is a baby a human?” Representative Liebling dismissed this question as “inflammatory rhetoric” and “completely irrelevant.” How can such a question be irrelevant to a bill that would deny babies the right to life up until and even after birth? Under Minnesota’s Born Alive Infant’s Protection Act, medical providers are required to give life-saving care to babies who survive abortions. HF 91 and SF 70 repeal that law, allowing medical professionals to leave babies to die of neglect on a metal table after botched abortions. This is nothing less than legalized infanticide.
HF 91 and SF 70 would also remove all restrictions on abortion, as well as repealing reporting requirements, informed consent laws, and health and safety requirements. Currently, Minnesota releases an annual abortion report providing information on how many abortions were performed throughout the state, the age of the babies who were aborted, reasons for abortion, and how many babies survived abortions each year. These reports are the reason we know that Minnesota commits roughly 10,000 abortions and that five Minnesota babies survived abortion and were denied medical care in 2021, the most recent year we have data on.
As Renee Carlson, General Counsel of True North Legal boldly stated while giving legal testimony on SF 70, “Cattle and reptiles will have more legal protections in Minnesota than Minnesota’s vulnerable preborn children.”
HF 91 and SF 70 even remove reporting requirements when a woman dies because of an abortion. This, combined with the repeal of other safety restrictions, shows an utter disregard for health and safety, and an unwillingness to require any accountability for the abortion industry.
Minnesota is joined by only a small handful of states — New York, Vermont, and California — in embracing this level of abortion extremism. This legislation would make us an outlier on the international stage, as well, joined by China and North Korea in a callous lack of protection for babies and their mothers. Live Action notes that the bill even prevents local jurisdictions from taking any actions to protect unborn babies.
The abortion agenda being advanced by the Minnesota legislature does not reflect the values of the people of our state. On Sunday, pro-life Minnesotans gathered at the state Capitol to march in honor of the unborn children who have been killed by abortion, to celebrate the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and to demonstrate their commitment to continue to stand for life. Together they sent a clear message to lawmakers: we say “no” to abortion radicalism. Marchers included men and women, young and old, people from a diverse range of backgrounds, all united in their stand for the unborn.
In the crowd were men and women who have faithfully marched and prayed every year for 50 years since the Roe v. Wade decision, continuing to work to protect unborn lives even when they wondered if Roe v. Wade would be overturned in their lifetimes. The crowd included pro-life lawmakers, activists and lobbyists, staff and volunteers from pregnancy resource centers who meet the needs of women and families, faithful citizens who have spent decades asking their lawmakers to stand for life and working to elect pro-life officials, women who have courageously spoken out about the reality of abortion regret, and families that have committed to caring for vulnerable children.
It is because God uses faithful people like them, who have committed to the long-term work of protecting life, that Roe is no longer the law of the land on the federal level. And when abortion is no longer the law of the land in Minnesota, it will be through God’s use of faithful people who are committed to honoring him by valuing and protecting the lives of those made in his image.
