A bill strengthening abortion rights
in Minnesota is now officially law.
Governor Walz signed that bill today,
making Minnesota a safe
haven for the procedure.
Democrats fast tracked the bill
once they took a narrow majority
following November's election. Chief
political reporter John Croman
joins us live from the Capitol
with details on the bill. John.
You know, abortion has remained legal
in Minnesota due to a 1995 Supreme Court
ruling by the state Supreme Court.
And that's one of the reasons we've seen
Minnesota already become kind of a haven,
people coming here from out
of state to get abortions.
What the governor signed today is a
bill that pretty much for the first
time ever puts it into state law.
It was a victory celebration so big
it was moved to the Department of
Revenue to accommodate all those
who wanted to witness this moment,
the signing of House file one.
It is law. With the stroke of a pen,
governor walls put the right to abortion,
contraceptives and prenatal care into
state law because you row, row, Rd.
your vote.
Minnesota is making history.
It wasn't a sure thing until the
wee hours of Saturday morning,
following a Senate debate that
started at noon the previous
day and ran for 15 hours.
But what it really
is, it's a more abortion on
demand for all. That's what it is.
And to take decisions away from
them while they're already in
their darkest hour is cruel.
Backers of the bill didn't want to
leave it to a future judges to
decide access to abortion. Here,
vision has to reside with the
individual and the individual.
Only it can't be.
Decided by politicians?
It can't be decided by judges.
Furthermore, we were tired of playing
defense for these assaults on our
reproductive freedoms constantly
coming through. Yeah.
If the state gets sued
by abortion opponents over this law,
the state's top lawyer is ready
all of the lead. But if anybody,
anywhere tries to challenge it,
we will swing into action to defend it.
Senate Republicans House Republicans
yesterday sent governor Walls a letter
strongly urging him to veto this bill.
They say it just goes too far,
does not have enough safeguards
for the women or the unborn babies.
They tried to unsuccessfully tried
to put amendments on these bills
that would do things like put
clinics in the same situation as
hospitals in terms of licensing.
They also wanted a complete
ban on 3rd trimester abortions.
Those amendments did not get on and the
battle here at the Capitol is still going on.
There are two more abortion.
Related bills,
Republicans are vowing to fight
those as much as they can.
Back
to you. So John, I know the
Republicans were also saying that
on the campaign trail the governor
said he would not be in favor of
late term or third term abortions.
Is that a turnaround from what he
was saying on the campaign trail?
Well, I think
I'm, I can't. I don't know his heart.
I don't know exactly what he
was thinking when he said that.
But in Minnesota,
out of 10,000 abortions each year,
about five or third trimester,
and those third trimester ones were
all considered medical emergencies
or babies that weren't viable.
So I think the Democrats have
been saying that essentially
that's kind of a hollow argument,
even though technically this
does allow abortion up to birth.
It just is something that's
not happening in Minnesota.
Alright. Thank you, John.
Great clarification there, by the way,
and this is the point that Julie was making,
because the Minnesota House Republicans
are responding on Twitter here.
They're basically saying that
walls is hypocritical today.
They say he has said in the past
that he does not support abortion
up to the moment of birth,
and today he signed the Pro Act,
which allows that.
So again, that was the Minnesota House GOP's
response coming in from the White House,
though in the last two hours or so,
Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted that she
applauds walls for codifying abortion rights,
saying state and local governments
have to continue to step up.
To protect reproductive health,
health care.
And to be clear again,
this law does not change any
abortion practices already legal
in the state of Minnesota today.
Reaction still coming in.
All right, Chris, thank you.