Led by Rep. Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg) and Sen. Andrew Mathews (R-Milaca), these bills would outlaw abortion from the moment a fetal heartbeat is detected through abdominal ultrasound—as early as six weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant. If enacted, it would effectively ban nearly all abortion in Minnesota, with rare exception. Every person should have the right to make personal, private health care decisions without political interference.
End of Session Update (June 2019): Did not become law
Despite having significant support among Republicans in both the Minnesota House and Senate, this bill did not progress through the legislative process and did not become law this year.
However, Rep. Tim Miller did offer this bill as an amendment to a larger bill on the House Floor: every single Republican Representative, plus five Democrats, voted IN FAVOR of the six week ban. Thankfully there were enough pro-choice votes to stop the amendment but it’s a grim reminder that only five to ten votes and Governor Tim Walz stand between extremist lawmakers and abortion bans becoming a reality in Minnesota.
This is an extreme move that jeopardizes people's health, defying constitutional rights and all medical standards for reproductive health care. Does this sound familiar? It’s because Rep. Miller introduced a nearly identical bill last year.
And what's worse is that 42 of 59 Republicans in the Minnesota House—almost 3/4 of all Republicans in the House—actively support this extreme bill.
This type of ban has been struck down as unconstitutional in every state where it has been passed into law. North Dakota and Arkansas both passed similar abortion bans and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending their laws in court, only to have the laws struck down or permanently blocked as unconstitutional.
So why is Rep. Miller wasting the Minnesota Legislature’s time and taxpayer dollars forwarding a bill that is blatantly unconstitutional?
To advance an extreme anti-choice agenda and create a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade. If passed, these bills would open the door to endless litigation and legal wrangling, clogging our already crowded courts and costing Minnesota taxpayers more of their hard-earned money.
Instead, the Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature should focus their time on passing policies that protect and expand access to birth control so people can avoid unwanted pregnancies altogether.
That’s why we are advocating policies at the Legislature that do just that. Join us in supporting bills that expand access to birth control and strengthen family planning health centers around the state that provide the health care necessary for people to plan pregnancies and have healthy families.
Tags: minnesota