ST. PAUL, MN – On January 19, the Minnesota House approved radical abortion language that would allow abortions until the child’s birth. State Representative Spencer Igo, R-Wabana Township, voted no on the bill, which passed on a party line vote.
“As a pro-life legislator, I support legislation that puts the health and wellbeing of children and women first. This bill does the opposite,” said Igo. “It would provide unlimited abortion access up until the moment of birth including in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters when the unborn can feel pain and when the probability of complications for women rises exponentially. Further, it would not require abortion facilities to be licensed. Reasonable people on both sides of this issue can respectfully agree and disagree on what regulations and guardrails Minnesota should adopt. However, in more than a year of talking with voters across the Northland, I did not meet one constituent that supported this sort of extreme proposal that Democrats are championing in the House.”
Igo said the bill makes abortion, already legal in Minnesota under Doe v. Gomez, available at any time during a pregnancy without guardrails, which would make our state an outlier in the United States and western world.
Igo also noted that the bill does not require abortion facilities to be licensed by the State of Minnesota nor require second or third term abortions to take place in a hospital, despite the obvious medical risks.
Numerous attempts were made to amend the legislation to show compassion to mothers and the unborn. The proposed changes included requiring 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions to be performed in a hospital, banning partial birth abortions, and banning abortions in the 3rd trimester, with the exceptions of rape, incest, and saving the life of the mother. The majority party in the Minnesota House voted all of them down.
The bill now heads to the Minnesota Senate.
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