A district court judge in Minnesota has blocked several of the state’s abortion restrictions on the grounds that they are unconstitutional.
Judge Thomas Gilligan has struck down the state’s 24-hour waiting period, the two-parent notification law for minors who want an abortion, a provision that says that only doctors can commit abortions, a provision requiring the disclosure of certain medical information prior to an abortion, and a requirement that all abortions after the first trimester be committed in a hospital — all on the grounds that they violate the constitutional “right to privacy.”
“These abortion laws violate the right to privacy because they infringe upon the fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution to access abortion care and do not withstand strict scrutiny,” Gilligan wrote.
The ruling proceeds from a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling in Dee v. Gomez, which determined that the state constitution protected the abortion under the “right to privacy.”
“There is no dispute that Gomez protects the right to choose whether to have an abortion,” Gilligan wrote, adding, “The right to choose to have an abortion, however, would be meaningless without the right to access abortion care.”
While Gilligan invokes the right to privacy as justification for allowing the homicide of preborn children in the womb, such a right is not legitimate if it results in the taking of innocent life. The right to privacy has never included the right to kill an innocent human being. Live Action News has succinctly debunked this argument here.
READ: Minnesota AG: ‘I will directly intervene’ to make sure abortionists aren’t prosecuted
Pro-lifers were quick to speak out against the court’s decision to expand abortion in the state. “Even the U.S. Supreme Court, under Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions, allowed these very modest types of laws,” Scott Fischbach, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life executive director, told CBS. “Yet today’s ruling blocks them and prevents Minnesotans from enacting reasonable protections for unborn children and their mothers.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is pro-abortion, said that he would need time to evaluate the court’s decision before deciding whether or not to appeal. “I believe in a woman’s right to choose. But I also have a duty to defend Minnesota’s statutes,” he said. “Both of those are my jobs at the same time. We’re going to take good, strong look at the decision.”
That response wasn’t good enough for House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, who noted that any delay will put the lives of women at risk.
“Attorney General Ellison has a Constitutional duty to defend our state laws and must immediately appeal this decision,” he said. “The effort by pro-abortion activists and their liberal donors will put lives at risk by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions and second or third trimester abortions to be performed in non-medical settings.”
According to the Star Tribune, Ellison’s office has 60 days to decide whether or not to appeal.
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