Minnesota: Senate Approves Abortion Throughout Pregnancy

“Minnesota residents are not in favor of voluntary abortion in the third trimester. They just are not. But that is what this extreme bill enshrines in our state law: the right to abort any baby for any reason and at any time up until the moment of birth,” said Cathy Blaeser, co-executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL).

“Under this bill, even babies who are old enough to live outside the womb and are in excruciating pain have no protection from lethal violence. The extremism of HF 1 puts Minnesota in the same category as a handful of countries around the world, including North Korea and China,” she added.

HF 1, would create a “fundamental right” to abortion and would require abortion to be permitted for any reason, including late in pregnancy, when babies can certainly feel pain, and when a woman’s health risks are increased. The bill would also deny parents the right to know when their minor daughter is having an abortion.

"The lack of parental involvement allows the most heinous criminals - human and sex traffickers - to hide behind the doors of unlicensed and uninspected abortion centers,” analyzed Cathy Blaeser. “These traffickers are happy to see this legislature move forward on extreme, unrestricted abortion bills that allow them to continue to traffic their victims.”

Amendments that would have made HF 1 less extreme were rejected: protection of unborn children in the third trimester, protection against barbaric procedures or partial birth abortion, possibility of anesthetizing unborn children in case of pain, and protection of women's health by requiring third trimester abortions to be performed in a hospital.

Other bills expanding abortion have also been introduced in the capitol. One of them, HF 91/SF 70, would repeal many abortion laws, including a law protecting newborns who survive abortions.

The Catholic bishops of the Minnesota dioceses asked the Senate not to pass the bill, once it had received the approval of the state house of representatives.

The unprecedented violence of this law shows to what degree of monstrosity the abortive mentality can lead. A “civilization” that reaches such excesses is in fact no longer a civilization: it is nothing more than barbarism. It can only engender new violence and ultimately self-destruct.