Minnesota Legislature Defeats Amendments to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 27, 2009
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — Just two weeks after a new report showed Minnesota taxpayers still spend $1.58 million paying for abortions, the state legislature defeated an amendment designed to stop the practice. In separate votes, the Minnesota state House and Senate both voted down attempts to reign in the abortion spending.
On a 66-66 tie vote, the state House opposed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Patti Fritz, a Democrat, who offered an amendment during debate on the omnibus health and human services budget bill.
Minutes later, the Minnesota Senate voted 39-26 to defeat an amendment to ban on taxpayer funded abortions in its version of the budget measure.
Minnesota abortion businesses filed claims for 3,914 abortion reimbursements totaling $1,582,193 for the year 2007, the health department indicated earlier this month. That is down from the 3,937 claims or abortion reimbursements of $1,652,977 filed in 2006.
Taxpayers have been forced to pay for abortions since the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 1995 Doe v. Gomez ruling found a “right” to abortion in the Minnesota Constitution and also required taxpayers to fund abortions for low-income women.
Scott Fischbach, the director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, told LifeNews.com shortly after the vote that the defeat of the amendments means taxpayers will be forced to finance the death of more unborn children.
“State lawmakers failed to correct the abortion industry’s egregious misuse of taxpayer funds,” he said. “Voting to force taxpayers to pay for elective abortions is not a middle-ground position for any lawmaker; it is extreme.”
Taxpayers have paid for the killing of 47,115 unborn children since the decision, Fischbach told LifeNews.com that the latest Minnesota figures show.
In total, Minnesota residents were forced to spend money paying for 28.3 percent of all abortions done in the state in 2007.
Prior to the court decision, Minnesota law limited taxpayer funding of abortion to cases of reported rape, incest and life of the mother.
Since the Doe v. Gomez ruling, taxpayers have paid $14,126,689 for a total of 47,115 abortion procedure claims. Showing the different the court decision made, the state spent just $7,000 on 23 abortions the year before the decision.
“Polls continue to show that most Minnesotans and most Americans are opposed to taxpayer funded abortions, yet they continue to be forced to pay for them,” Fischbach said. “Taxpayers will be very interested to learn how their elected officials voted on requiring taxpayers to pay for abortions.”
Fischbach told LifeNews.com that MCCL continues to work to pass a ban on taxpayer funded abortions, H.F. 1059 / S.F. 906, authored by Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba, a Democrat, and Sen. Claire Robling, a Republican.
Related web sites:
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life – https://www.mccl.org
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
