Last week marked the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling. While pro-lifers across the nation grieved the loss of life brought about by the ruling, pro-abortion politicians took the occasion to celebrate abortion and promise its further expansion. President Biden issued a statement reiterating his campaign promise to codify Roe v. Wade into law, and here in Minnesota, pro-abortion DFL lawmakers marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by introducing a bill that grants a “fundamental right to abortion.” In a statement issued on January 22, Representative Kelly Morrison lamented the conservative majority on the Supreme Court and announced she was introducing the Protect Reproductive Options Act.
Representatives Alice Hausman and Mike Freiberg have joined Morrison as co-authors of the Protect Reproductive Options Act. In addition to establishing a “fundamental right” to abortion, the bill would prohibit lawmakers from “interfer[ing] with reproductive decision making” in the form of regulations, including regulations of facilities or services. Planned Parenthood released a statement last week praising the bill
The bill also states that “A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this state.” Life begins at conception, and it is absurd and arbitrary to argue that personhood does not begin when life begins. From conception, an unborn child is alive and undeniably human. This bill would deny basic human rights, including the right to life, to unborn children simply because they are in their mothers’ wombs.
From the slave trade to the Holocaust to the Rwandan Genocide, dehumanization is a rhetorical tactic that has consistently been used to defend atrocious human rights violations. The genocide that takes place in our nation in the form of legalized abortion is no exception.
Minnesota already allows abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, and under the Minnesota Supreme Court decision Doe v. Gomez, state-funded abortion is protected as a “right.” Our state is hardly restrictive when it comes to abortion. This bill would expand the so-called “right” to abortion by codifying it as a “fundamental right” and denying the personhood of unborn children by declaring that they have no rights under state law, including the right to life. When the humanity of any group of people is denied, we accept a culture of death that arbitrarily decides who lives, who dies, and who is considered human. This is unacceptable.
(Image Credit: Twitter)
