scheduled tribe. Paul, Min. ( Associated Press) — The Minnesota Senate Democratic minority on Thursday tried unsuccessfully to force consideration of nine abortion and health-related bills that the Republican majority has kept bottled up in committee, saying they have one despite the lack. It was important to take a stand is to win votes.
US Supreme Court opinion draft leaked Wade decision and sharply cut abortion rights in nearly half the states, has energized both sides of the abortion debate in Minnesota. Although it is unlikely that any abortion measures will pass The issue takes on new importance in the November elections, with the legislature divided ahead of the May 23 adjournment deadline.
Edina’s Senate Minority Leader Melissa Lopez Franzen said her fellow Democrats want to send a message to Minnesota residents that they will fight to protect their privacy and reproductive rights, including abortion rights, while Republicans will not.
Jennifer McEwen led the debate by trying to introduce a bill to codify that everyone has a fundamental right to make their own reproductive health decisions, including abortion.
“The people of Minnesota are looking to us – now – to defend their rights, to establish them in law, to make sure that politicians and their government are not going to their homes, not their bedrooms. It’s reaching. Private decision-making,” said the Duluth Democrat. “It’s very important.”
Under Senate rules, it would take 41 votes to get the bill out of committee, but Democrats have only 31 seats, compared to 34 for Republicans and two independents. None of the nine attempts could do better than a 33–33 tie.
Some bills were not directly related to abortion, but did include other aspects of reproductive health care, such as access to contraception. One would have created a paid family and medical leave system.
No Republicans spoke out against either bill, although Senate President David Osmack, a Republican from the Mound, repeatedly warned Democrats that they were delving unreasonably deep into the discussion of the merits of the bills, Instead of sticking to the basic description of what they will do.
Votes in Minnesota come a day after US Senate falls short in an effort to incorporate into federal law The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide.
The debate over abortion was the latest symbolic clash in the Minnesota Legislature in recent days. Senate Democrats lost a vote late last month on a 29-36 vote to tackle an amendment similar to McEwen’s bill on a major health and human services measure.
But the House Democratic majority last week repelled GOP efforts to add two less comprehensive anti-abortion measures in a separate Health and Human Services bill. One would need a license from clinics that perform 10 or more abortions per month. Another would have prevented organizations receiving state family planning grants from subsidizing abortion services. Both failed in narrow procedural votes.
Whatever happens in the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion in Minnesota will remain legal, at least for now, under a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision called Doe v. Known as Gomez. This effectively established the right to abortion under the state’s constitution. The state has several restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that minors notify both parents before having an abortion. A case pending in state court Tries to break those boundaries.
