Four abortion bills suggest Minnesota Republicans angling for lawsuit

Minnesota Republicans have offered four identical bills that would ban state funding for abortion services in both the House and Senate. The DFL and reproductive rights groups are taking them to task for focusing heavily on social issues and curtailing the ability of low income women to receive an abortion. Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, predicted that the bills were likely an attempt to challenge a Minnesota Supreme Court decision that upheld the right of Minnesotans on public assistance to receive abortion services.

Winkler has been critical of GOP leadership over their apparent prioritization of social issues over job creation. He said introducing four identical bills on abortion demonstrates a lack of focus on issues facing many Minnesotans.

“It seems to me they are passionate about pushing their social agenda and avoiding thinking about jobs and the economy,” he told the Minnesota Independent.

The bills contain a severability clause stating that if part of the bill is ruled unconstitutional, the rest should still stand. Winkler sees that as an indication that the bill is designed to challenge state law; a previous ban on state funding for abortion was ruled unconstitutional by the Minnesota Supreme Court in the 1995 case Doe v. Gomez.

Rep. Ryan Winkler

“All this bill does is create an opportunity for a lawsuit,” said Winkler. “They know that Tim Pawlenty appointed a majority to the Supreme Court that could overturn [Doe v. Gomez].”

“Abortion should legal and available for all women regardless of where their health insurance comes from,” he said. “All this is doing is distracting from and ignoring economic issues.”

That’s a view shared by NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota. Its executive director, Linnea House, said the fact that four identical bills have been offered is unusual.

“I agree that the bills seem excessive,” she said. “Is the goal get all the authors on there? Or perhaps to have them amended in different ways down the road during the process?”

She added, “None of these bills are going to create jobs — they are distracting themselves with political issues instead of doing the real work they were sent there to do — to get Minnesota back on track. Attacking women and their choices will not create one job.”

Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota agreed. In a blog post, the group wrote, “Republicans didn’t win majorities this year by saying that they wanted to interfere in a woman and her family’s personal medical decisions; they won because the public believed that Republicans would be the ones to fix the jobs situation. Unfortunately, they have not been sticking to ‘jobs, jobs, jobs.’”