Abortion foes push new state initiatives in St. Paul

01/23/2006

Associated Press
January 23, 2006

Several thousand abortion opponents massed outside Minnesota’s Capitol Sunday to clamor for a ban on public funding of abortion and a political campaign against a sitting state Supreme Court justice.

“We must stop abortion in our state,” Scott Fischbach, head of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, told a crowd of sign wavers clad in parkas, winter boots and collars turned up against a cutting wind. “Things are changing in this country.”

It was the 33rd annual protest on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Emboldened by the prospect of adding Samuel Alito to the nation’s highest court, Minnesota’s anti-abortion leaders said they think the landmark case will be overturned or rendered obsolete. Alito has refused to recognize that Roe v. Wade is “settled law.”

“We have a dream today that someday soon this will not be an anniversary of sadness, but an anniversary of justice restored,” said Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has signed three laws backed by MCCL, the state’s dominant anti-abortion group.

But many marchers didn’t brave the cold because of Alito or even for state politics.

Katie Whitte and her friend Mary Kohlmann both marched for the first time, coming with a church group from South St. Paul, where Whitte volunteers at a crisis pregnancy center.

“This year is special for me because I am a mother out of wedlock,” said Whitte, 20, whose daughter is 5 months old. “I wanted to get the message out that life is important. It doesn’t matter what your circumstances are.”

This year, abortion foes in Minnesota will try to ban public funding of abortions for Medicaid recipients, which has been required since a 1995 state Supreme Court decision called Doe v. Gomez. Fischbach said they’ll ask the state’s high court to adjudicate the matter if the legislation passes.

Abortion opponents command majorities in both houses of the state Legislature.

MCCL is also gearing up a campaign against Justice Paul Anderson, who supported Doe v. Gomez. Anderson will be on the ballot in November, and a court ruling last year gave parties and interest groups more leeway to get involved in judicial elections, which previously had been low-key affairs.

“The court system is one of the last areas that needs to be changed. The judicial end of it has been a problem for us,” Fischbach said. “It’s really a logical next step for us to turn the courts to be pro-life.”

Planned Parenthood spokesman Tim Stanley said MCCL’s agenda — which also includes collecting data on judges who let minors get abortions without telling their parents and requiring abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges for patients with complications — could backfire this year, with all 201 legislative seats on the ballot in November.

“They will be overplaying their hand,” he said. “This agenda is all about making it more dangerous for women.”

MCCL also wants a state law requiring hospitals and clinics to provide water and nutrition to terminally ill patients who can’t communicate their wishes.

Last year, lawmakers approved two of MCCL’s priorities: funding for crisis pregnancy centers that encourage women to bear unplanned children and requiring doctors who perform abortions to offer anesthesia for late-term fetuses.

On the abortion rights side, the Minnesota Choice Coalition planned to mark the Roe v. Wade anniversary with a reception and two rock concerts.