A pro-life lawsuit filed by pregnancy centers and three Minnesota women who claim that they were forced to have abortions was heard in a federal court July 11.
The plaintiffs sued Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, both Democrats, and Planned Parenthood last year, arguing that Minnesota’s abortion laws open the door to coercing women to have abortions. According to the Grand Forks Herald, the suit claims the pro-abortion laws violate women’s rights under the 14th Amendment, forcing them to have “involuntary” and “unwanted” abortions that take away their parental rights.
Pregnancy Help News reported that Walz signed two bills in 2023 that overturned protections against forcing women to have abortions, and approved another bill the same year that signed abortion into state law.
CatholicVote reported in January that the plaintiffs are represented by pro-life attorney Harold Cassidy, who shared stories of women who were forced, often by their male partners, to have abortions. He said that pregnant women can sometimes be killed if they refuse to have an abortion, noting that studies have shown that homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the US.
“He pointed out that when a man brings a woman to get an abortion against her will, ‘There’s nothing standing between the man … and the abortion provider who has an objective of maximizing the number of abortions they sell in a single day,’” CatholicVote reported.
According to the Grand Forks Herald, the defendants argued at the hearing that Minnesota’s abortion laws do not encourage or mandate certain actions, calling it a private decision that does not equate to the termination of parental rights.
Cassidy, however, called the state’s argument “nonsense,” stating that the decisions are now made by abortion providers.
“The state created the law that delegates it to … the abortion businesses,” Cassidy said, the Grand Forks Herald reported. “Although they’re obligated to provide protections of a mother’s rights, to ensure it’s voluntary, to ensure that it’s informed, they don’t.”
He added that Planned Parenthood is now “operating under the authority and power given to them specifically by the law” with help from state officials.
According to the Grand Forks Herald, the pro-abortion defendants asked the court to dismiss the pro-life suit, but no decision was reached during the hearing.
