A Victory After Roe-The PRO Act passes

Article written by Charles Berg

Published 2/10/2023

After the death of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court, not only was there anxiety over the possibility that AFAB (assigned female at birth) individuals could now be denied the right to bodily autonomy in the case of getting an abortion, as is now the case in our neighboring states of Wisconsin and South Dakota, but that further rights like same sex marriage and contraception could also be next on the chopping block.

Picture from the Kaiser Family Foundation: https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/dashboard/abortion-in-the-u-s-dashboard/

Why are these concerns? Because how these rights were won were primarily though the court systems, a system that is now deeply entrenched in partisan politics and squabbling, and so in the instance these rights were granted through the judicial system there is now a real and legitimate concern that the Republican party could dominate the courts and then, with no votes, force our rights out of existence.

And it just so happens that in the state of Minnesota, that is exactly how our right to bodily autonomy was granted to us. In the 1995 Doe v. Gomez case, the court ruled that “We therefore conclude that the right of privacy under the Minnesota Constitution encompasses a women’s right to decide to terminate her pregnancy”. We here in Minnesota gained this right the same way as everyone else did, through a court decision.

But that’s no longer stable or feasible for us anymore, and the Minnesota government, led by the Democratic Farmer Labor party recognizes that. After the death of Roe, the only way we could maintain these basic rights was through hard law, through the passage of legislation which would have many more political safeguards against any future attempts to ban abortion or access to contraceptives than a court would.

And so, our party leaders here in Minnesota pushed for the PRO Act, an act which protects the right to contraception, the right to carry a pregnancy to term, the right to an abortion, the right to privacy when making personal reproductive health decisions, and restricts future attempts by those in power who wish to put barriers or bans in place when accessing these basic healthcare needs. This act then, on January 31st, was signed by Governor Tim Walz after passing both the House and Senate, meaning now Minnesota is the 1st state post Roe-death to enact legislative protections for abortion access within the United States.

Picture from MinnPost by Tom Olmscheld

Not only is this a major moral victory for the leftist cause of upholding basic human rights, but it’s an example of the awesome power that voting and political mobilization can have for a political movement. The DFL didn’t have to compromise or negotiate anything to get this passed because it had the raw numbers and therefor political power to push this through. And I am proud that as a Minnesotan I helped to campaign and vote for candidates that then helped right and pass this law.

It is a strong lesson for all of us that if we want change we must get involved, we must mobilize, and at the very least we must vote. Our very rights depend on this, and here in Minnesota it looks like we learned that lesson.