Today, the state has an active abortion rights community, including UnRestrict MN[10] and Pro-Choice Minnesota[11][12], which are involved in activities such as facilitating travel for women seeking abortions and supporting abortion rights. There is also an active community against abortion rights, which includes organizations such as the Minnesota Family Council and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. This law is also in place to prevent victims of rape, incest or sex trafficking under the age of 18 from being forced to have an abortion against their will. Parental consent helps ensure that women are not trapped in abusive situations. Minnesota is one of seventeen states that use federal funds to cover all or most of the medically necessary abortions requested by low-income women under Medicaid. Minnesota is one of thirteen other states required to do so by state court orders. [37] In 2010, the state had 3,941 publicly funded abortions, of which sixteen were federally funded and 3,925 state-funded. [38] More details on Minnesota`s abortion laws are given in the table below. Read FindLaw`s Reproductive Rights section (which includes a subsection on abortion) to learn more. The Minnesota legislature of 1998 amended Minnesota`s abortion reporting requirement to include all Minnesota licensed physicians and practitioners who perform abortions and all Minnesota facilities where abortions are performed (MN Statutes, 145.4131-134.4136). For each procedure, a report form must be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Health. These reporting obligations only apply to suppliers and the information they report is required by law to remain private. Final summary reports are available from Induced Abortion in Minnesota.
Hodgson v. Minnesota said parental consent can pose a danger to minors seeking abortion if physical, emotional or sexual abuse is already present. [14] [23] The case involved a Minnesota law that required both parents of a minor to be notified before she could have an abortion; It also contained a judicial circumvention provision that was to take effect only if a court deemed it necessary. [24] Dr. Jane Hodgson, a Minneapolis gynecologist, challenged the law. The counties did not have clinics offering abortions. Sixteen percent of facilities in 2017 were abortion clinics (i.e. clinics where more than half of all patient visits were for abortion), 35% were non-specialized clinics, 33% were hospitals, and 16% were private doctors` offices. Sixty percent of all abortions were performed in abortion clinics, 35 percent in non-specialized clinics, 3 percent in hospitals, and 1 percent in doctors` offices. [1] And anti-abortion lawmakers want to further restrict access to abortion.
Every year, Minnesota`s anti-choice lawmakers introduce and pass laws that restrict access to abortion. In 2019, a bill to completely ban abortion nearly passed the Minnesota House of Representatives. We must do everything in our power to protect reproductive health care, including abortion, from the anti-abortion extremists of the Minnesota legislature. In 2017, approximately 862,320 abortions took place in the United States.