Women Coming To MN For Abortions Will Be Protected, AG Ellison Vows

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison this week vowed to legally protect residents and women coming from other states who are seeking an abortion.

Of its immediate neighbors, the state of Minnesota has by the most liberal abortion laws. Under Minnesota law, abortions are allowed up to 20 weeks during pregnancy, due to the 1995 state Supreme Court precedent set in Doe v. Gomez.

However, state law requires that abortions are performed by a doctor. There is also a mandatory waiting period of at least 24 hours before the abortion can take place.

A draft majority opinion leaked to Politico suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion ruling this summer.

"Regardless of how the Court decides Dobbs, Gomez will remain the law of the land in Minnesota. That’s not changing, and Minnesotans can count on it. I will uphold Gomez and will fight all challenges to it," Ellison said.

Ellison made the following promises, regardless of what happens at the Supreme Court this summer, to Minnesotans and visitors of the state:

• "No one who travels from another state to seek an abortion that’s legal in Minnesota will be prosecuted."
• "No one from another state who has a miscarriage while in Minnesota will be prosecuted."
• "No one helping someone else travel from another state to seek an abortion that’s legal in Minnesota will be prosecuted."
• "No provider who travels from another state to provide an abortion that’s legal in Minnesota will be prosecuted."
• "I will directly intervene to stop any such prosecution in Minnesota."
• "I will oppose extradition requests from other states for people who’ve engaged in legal conduct in Minnesota."

Minnesota has 11 abortion clinics, according to the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute. Of those, the majority are in the Minneapolis area.