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Bill imposing limits on abortion passes House

A major bill pushed by groups opposing abortion won House approval on Thursday and now moves to Senate, where pressure is building for a hearing.

By Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune

Last update: April 27, 2006 - 10:01 PM

The House approved a sweeping bill Thursday that challenges Minnesota's state constitutional right to abortion and requires bookkeeping on judges who grant exemptions to parental notification rules for teenage girls, as backroom pressure mounted on Senate DFL leadership to give the measure a hearing.

The House approved the measure on an 81-50 vote, with 11 DFLers voting for the measure and two Republicans voting against it. Debate focused on the implications of the bill, which supporters have acknowledged is designed to challenge current law.

If it were to become law, the measure would strike at the heart of the state's equivalent of the landmark Roe vs. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1973 legalizing abortion. Like the all-out abortion ban recently passed in South Dakota, the Minnesota measure, if enacted, would almost certainly trigger court action to test anew the constitutionality of abortion rights.

"This strategy in the face of clear law is saying that the state is going to wage battle in the courts," said House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul. "That's not the best way to reduce abortion."

The House sponsor, Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, said it is unfair that Minnesotans who might oppose abortions are required to fund them. Taxpayer-funded abortions now account for 29 percent of the abortions performed in Minnesota, at an estimated cost of $1 million a year. Brod's legislation would prohibit all taxpayer-funded abortions unless the mother's life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.

"I know many taxpayers in my district and across Minnesota would be very concerned that their hard-earned tax dollars are used to fund abortions in this state," said Brod, the assistant majority leader, who didn't argue that the measure could attract court action.

Professionals at risk?

Another provision of the bill would track how often and in what judicial district judges approve abortions for minors without parental notification. A teenager seeking an abortion in Minnesota is required to notify both parents. But she can petition a court for an order allowing the clinic to proceed with the abortion.

Supporters of the abortion bill's requirement for more information about so-called judicial bypasses say it is intended to establish an accurate database on the number and location of bypasses granted.

Still another provision would require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 20 miles of where the abortion is performed.

Opponents of the bill argued that the provisions are designed to intimidate judges and doctors, who could be placed in danger from overzealous activists against abortion.

"Doctors have been shot and killed, now we're going to add judges to this," said Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minneapolis. "It puts professionals who are doing their job at risk."

Brod said the bill is designed only to accumulate data and that names of judges granting judicial bypasses will not be documented.

Senate under pressure

The House vote comes as the Senate has been wrestling with how to handle the always difficult issue, particularly during an election year. A similar bill has not had a hearing in any Senate committee and advocates against abortion, most significantly Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, have been pressing hard for a resolution as the legislative session enters its final weeks.

In the other corner, Planned Parenthood officials have been aggressive in cautioning senators who support abortion rights to stay the course, even if the measure is attached to a larger funding bill with projects that abortion rights supporters might find enticing to vote for.

Before the House vote, Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, whose district largely opposes abortion, said he had been waiting to see the final form of the House bill before deciding how it might be handled in the Senate.

It could be heard in the Health and Family Security Committee, where its passage would be shaky, or heard on the Senate floor, where abortion opponents hold a majority.

Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636

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