Minnesota: Gov. Walz signs state law permitting abortion at any stage for any reason

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Tuesday signed into law a piece of state legislation that would enshrine unrestricted access to abortion at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason, regardless of what future judges or politicians might wish to rule on the issue, the Associated Press reports.

Titled “PRO Act,” short for “Protect Reproductive Actions,” the legislation passed both Democratically controlled Minnesota Houses of Legislature by slim majorities of 69-65 and 34-33, respectively, the Associated Press reports. Under the Act: “Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care. Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right.”

Democratic lawmakers said the new legislation constitutes a reaction against the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v Wade last year. “Fundamentally, this legislation is about who decides,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park said in a statement. “Who should be legally entitled to make reproductive health care decisions for an individual. … It can’t be decided by politicians. It can’t be decided by judges.”

Pro-life groups have decried the law as “extreme” and “appalling.” In a statement, Cathy Blaeser, Co-Executive Director of MCCL, Minnesota’s largest anti-abortion organization, said the law is far from being intended only for difficult medical cases that might require a late-term abortion. “It allows late abortion for any reason whatsoever, and it’s an open invitation to notorious late abortion practitioners to come to Minnesota to set up shop,” Blaeser said. “Here in Minnesota, you don’t even need to be a doctor or have a licensed facility in order to perform abortions. The lack of guardrails to protect women and children is appalling.”

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