Abortion Regulation Act -DID
NOT PASS
[HF3258 House author: Brod; SF2877 Senate author:
Neuville]
Summary: During the legislative
session of 2006, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for
Life (MCCL) pushed their most far reaching attempt
to take away Minnesota women’s right to privacy.
Their legislation (HF 3258) included three components
that would have done nothing to prevent abortions,
all while denying a woman’s right to privacy.
The legislation included:
1) A direct attack on the Minnesota State
Supreme Court ruling in Doe vs. Gomez that grants
the right to privacy, including reproductive health.
In 1995, the Women of Minnesota (a.k.a. Doe) v.
Gomez ruling allowed that if Minnesota state subsidized
health insurance provides for pregnancy-related
services, the state could not discriminate which
services a woman could choose. This ruling also
provides greater protection of women’s reproductive
privacy. By seeking to pass legislation that directly
contradicts that ruling, the MCCL tried to propel
a court case to overturn this Supreme Court decision.
The MCCL has already openly identified which justices
they will target for defeat in upcoming elections.
2) Targeted regulations of doctors who
perform abortions.
Clinics that perform abortions already have agreements
with nearby hospitals for emergency situations.
But the MCCL is seeking to add an unnecessary mandate
on individual doctors by requiring each to obtain
admitting privileges. The MCCL is only trying to
intimidate doctors who perform a safe and legal
procedure.
3) Intimidation of Hennepin, Ramsey and
St. Louis county judges that grant a judicial bypass
to women under the age of eighteen.
Minnesota law currently requires clinics or minors
to notify both biological parents 48 hours in advance
of obtaining an abortion. If BOTH parents are not
able to be notified, a young woman may petition
the court to grant her the right to consent to an
abortion. This has been in law since 1981 without
a need to further burden the courts and clinics.
The new law would only serve to make judges vulnerable
as political targets in upcoming elections.
All three of these provisions do nothing to reduce
the underlying cause for abortion in Minnesota -
unintended pregnancies. These measures are all designed
to attack established constitutional law and precedent
for reproductive freedom in our Minnesota State
Constitution and to compromise the fairness and
integrity of our judicial system.
If the MCCL is allowed to move their legislation
forward, this will be a further step in restricting
the right to privacy for women throughout Minnesota.
Watch out for more of these tactics in the next
legislative session.
Final Status: Passed the House
floor as stand alone bill and amended onto the Supplemental
Finance bill (HF4162 Knoblach). In Senate, did not
receive hearing as stand alone bill; Supplemental
Finance bill (SF 3781 Cohen) was stripped of the
Health & Human Service section in order to avoid
a vote on the MCCL amendment. In conference committee,
negotiations over abortion language lasted until
voted in committee at 5:15 am Sunday, May 21. It
was defeated by 3 to 1 among the Senate conferees.
Final bill passed both House and Senate Sunday evening
by 9:00 pm.
