Minnesota Republicans introduced two more bills on Thursday to ban abortions “at or after 20 weeks gestational age,” bringing the total number of bills banning various aspects of abortion to eight. Four would eliminate state funding for abortion services,…
Several Minnesota Democrats joined with 31 Republicans in offering a bill Wednesday that would ban embryonic stem cell research in the state under the guise of banning “human cloning.” The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2011 would make somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a component of creating embryonic stem cell lines, illegal and would impose a felony charge on scientists who conduct such research. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the main proponent of the bill, has stated that creating stem cell lines is akin to killing a human being.
Members of the Republican leadership in the Minnesota Senate have introduced legislation to ban state funding for abortions, just weeks after saying that creating jobs and fixing the budget deficit would be the party’s top priorities. The bill was offered on the eve of Minnesota Citizens Concerned For Life’s (MCCL) March for Life at the State Capitol grounds.
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, is challenging Minnesota’s campaign disclosure rules that relate to corporations. The group lost a court case in September but has appealed the case in federal appeals court. State Solicitor General Alan Gilbert argued that the group is trying to gut disclosure laws.
More than a dozen Republicans introduced a bill in the Minnesota House Thursday aimed at authorizing the sale of “Choose Life” license plates in Minnesota, with sales revenue going to groups that oppose abortion. The bill is nearly identical to one passed in 2003 in Florida, one of 23 states that produces the plates. But as the Florida Independent found, tracking where funds raised through the license plate sales wasn’t an easy task.
Advocates for reproductive rights are concerned that new socially conservative leadership in the Minnesota Legislature could curtail those rights in the upcoming biennium. While Republicans, who’ll control both houses, say that jobs and the economy will come first, there’s little doubt that they’ll also press for restrictions on abortion within the next two years — especially with Sen. Michele Fischbach as President of the Senate. Fischbach’s husband, Scott, is the executive director of Minnesota’s largest anti-abortion group, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.
Religious right groups in Minnesota and around the country said that Tuesday’s landslide victories for Republicans were due to their efforts — and they might be right. Anti-abortion groups claim they ousted incumbents who were previously “pro-life” but voted for health care reform, which the groups inaccurately stated will fund abortions. And massive anti-gay marriage campaigns throughout Minnesota preceded losses by same-sex marriage supporters at the Legislature.
In the wake of Citizens United, a trio of groups supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer sued the state of Minnesota for the right to contribute directly to his campaign without setting up a political action committee. In September, a U.S. District judge upheld the law Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and Coastal Travel Enterprises challenged. The groups then took their complaint to the United States Supreme Court, but on Friday the nation’s highest court rejected their case for an injunction.
Citing Rep. James Oberstar’s support for the federal health care reform law, the anti-abortion group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life pulled its support from the incumbent congressman and announced it’s backing Republican Chip Cravaack. MCCL says the health care reform bill funds abortions, but Oberstar points out that’s not the case.
DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton got the endorsement of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund on Wednesday, sparking a harsh response from local religious right outfits — including the Minnesota Family Council, which says a Dayton…
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