Minnesota Marks 14 Years of Court-Mandated Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 15, 2009
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — Congress is primed to approve a health care bill that could wind up as the biggest expansion of taxpayer funded abortions in the nation’s history. Residents of Minnesota can sympathize with their American counterparts in other states as their state tax dollars have paid for abortions for 14 years.
More than 47,000 unborn babies have been killed in Minnesota since the December 15, 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court Doe v. Gomez ruling.
From June 1994 through 2007, state taxpayers paid more than $14 million for 47,115 abortions, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS).
In 2007 alone, the most recent year for which data is available, state taxpayers paid $1.58 million for 3,914 abortions
The decision established what Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life executive director Scott Fischbach tells LifeNews.com is the most extreme abortion-on-demand policy in the nation.
“The Doe v. Gomez ruling by a handful of extremist judges has been disastrous for Minnesota women and their babies,” he said Tuesday.
“On this 14th anniversary of the decision, Minnesotans do not believe it is 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," he said.
The Supreme Court’s Doe v. Gomez decision established a new state constitutional “right” to abortion on demand, Fischbach noted. That abortion right would remain even if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned — making it incumbent on pro-life advocates in Minnesota to overturn the decision if they ever want to protect women and unborn children from abortions by law.
Doe v. Gomez allows abortions for reasons such as “stress” or “discomfort," Fischbach points out. It forbids the state to “interfere” in any way with a woman’s “decision-making” about abortion.
Doe v. Gomez also obligates the state and, therefore, Minnesota taxpayers, to pay for abortions, something not required by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This is not the will of the majority of Minnesotans, who oppose abortion on demand, and it is not the function of state government to fund the destruction of its most powerless innocent citizens,” Fischbach concludes. “The Court took away the people’s right to decide whether they want abortion on demand in the state and whether they should be required to pay for others’ elective abortions. It’s time for change in Minnesota.”
MCCL is a statewide pro-life group in Minnesota with more than 70,000 member families and 200 chapters across the state.
Related we 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.
