Minnesota Taxpayers Forced to Fund 73,000 Abortions Over the Last 20 Years

State   |   Bill Poehler   |   Dec 14, 2015   |   7:49PM   |   Washington, DC

More than 73,000 unborn babies have been killed in Minnesota with taxpayer funds since a Dec. 15, 1995, Minnesota Supreme Court ruling required taxpayers to fund abortions, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The Doe v. Gomez ruling established the most extreme abortion-on-demand state policy in the nation.

“Twenty years of ‘free’ abortions has been disastrous for Minnesota women and their unborn babies,” said Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL). “Minnesotans continue to believe it is not the mission of the state to abort thousands of innocent unborn children each year, yet that is exactly what is happening under this radical ruling.”

The Supreme Court’s 1995 Doe v. Gomez decision established a new state constitutional “right” to abortion on demand. This supposed right would remain protected by the state Constitution even if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion on demand in the United States, were to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Doe v. Gomez also obligates the state—and thus, taxpayers—to pay for abortions for low-income women on state assistance, something not required by the U.S. Supreme Court. From June 1994 (under an earlier decision) through 2013, state taxpayers paid more than $21.5 million for 69,214 abortions, according to MDHS. Preliminary MDH figures for 2014 add another nearly 4,000 abortions. In 2013 alone (the most recent MDHS statistics available), state taxpayers paid $810,000 for 3,391 abortions.

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While the total number of abortions in the state is declining gradually (but rose in 2014), taxpayer funding of elective abortions has risen most years since 1995. Minnesota taxpayers now pay for 38.1 percent of all abortions performed in the state—the highest percentage ever.

“The enormous percentage of taxpayer funded abortions keeps abortion numbers high in Minnesota, year after year,” Fischbach said. “Taxpayer money now floods the state’s abortion industry.”

MCCL strongly supports current legislation, H.F. 607 / S.F. 683, to ban taxpayer funded abortion.

“The Court took away the people’s ability to decide whether they want abortion on demand in the state and whether they should be required to pay for others’ elective abortions. After 20 years it’s time for the Supreme Court to revisit this wrongly decided ruling,” Fischbach added.

LifeNews.com Note: Bill Poehler is the communications director for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

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