Thanks to a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling in December 1995, requiring taxpayers to fund abortions, the state health department reveals Minnesotans have paid $15 million for 50,000 abortions in the years since.
From June 1994 through 2008, state taxpayers paid more than $15.6 million for 50,869 abortions, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. In 2008 alone (the most recent statistics available), state taxpayers paid $1.5 million for 3,754 abortions.
While the total number of abortions in the state is declining slightly, taxpayer funding of abortions has risen nearly every year since 1995. Minnesota taxpayers now pay for almost 30 percent of all abortions performed in the state.
The figures show the state high court ruling has established what Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, says is one of the most extreme abortion-on-demand policies in the nation.
“The Doe v. Gomez ruling by a handful of extremist judges has been disastrous for Minnesota women and their babies,” he told LifeNews.com today. “On this 15th anniversary of the decision, 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 Doe v. Gomez decision established a new state constitutional “right” to abortion in any situation at any point in pregnancy. This supposed right would remain protected by the state Constitution even if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion in the United States, were overturned by the Supreme Court.
Doe v. Gomez allows abortions for reasons such as “stress” or “discomfort,” Fischbach explains, and forbids the state to “interfere” in any way with a woman’s “decision-making” about abortion. The decision also obligates the state and its citizens 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 said. “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.”
Despite the increase in tax-funded abortions, MCCL and pro-life Governor TimPawlenty have been successful in reducing the number of abortions statewide.
The latest report on abortion issued by the Minnesota Department of Health reveals abortions have fallen for the third straight year and the decrease is part of a three-year trend of fewer abortions statewide since the Positive Alternatives program has funded efforts to help pregnant women in need.
The annual Abortion Report shows abortion businesses in the state reported a total of 12,388 abortions in 2009 compared with 12,948 the previous year. [related]
Positive Alternatives is one of several pro-life legislative efforts by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) to offer women life-affirming alternatives to abortion and to significantly reduce the number of unborn babies aborted each year.
The 2009 total is the lowest number on record since 1975, showing a historic drop.
MCCL indicates a MDH report showed that more than 12,000 women statewide were helped through the Positive Alternatives program in its first two years and another 6,000 women received help in the program’s third year.
