In response to far right Supreme Court justices upending well-established federal abortion rights protections, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) took executive action over the weekend to strengthen current statewide abortion protections — including for those who may travel to Minnesota from another state seeking the procedure.
Walz issued Executive Order 22-16 the day after the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Walz’s order instructs state government agencies to decline requests to extradite non-Minnesotans to their state of origin if they’re accused of committing acts related to their reproductive health that are allowed in Minnesota. The order also prohibits state agencies from assisting other states in sanctioning those who provide abortion services in Minnesota.
“No state agency may provide any information or expend or use time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources in furtherance of any investigation or proceeding that seeks to impose civil or criminal liability or professional sanctions upon a person or entity,” the order says in part.
The state of Minnesota currently recognizes abortion rights beyond those enumerated in the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Due to a state Supreme Court ruling in 1995, abortion in Minnesota is considered a state constitutional right. Some restrictions are still in place, including a 24-hour waiting period, but it’s likely the state will become a “sanctuary” for abortion services in the Midwest, as every state that borders Minnesota has or is set to impose bans on the procedure.
In a tweet on Monday explaining his latest executive action, Walz — who is up for reelection in November — pointed out that the right to abortion in Minnesota could be in jeopardy after this year’s midterm races.
“My office has been and will continue to be a firewall against legislation that would reverse reproductive freedom,” Walz said. “This order demonstrates our commitment to ensuring access to abortion services and reproductive care remains safe, legal, and accessible.”
It’s possible that Walz’s order from this past weekend, as well as other abortion protections, will be undone following the midterm races. Currently, polling shows that Walz is in a statistical tie with his Republican challenger, Scott Jensen, who has vowed to ban abortion in the state if he unseats the incumbent governor this fall.
Efforts to pass a far right constitutional amendment in order to disrupt the state constitutional right to abortion may not succeed, even if Republicans win all seats of state government in the midterms — for an amendment to be enacted, it must pass both chambers of the state legislature and be voted on in a statewide election, and polling data demonstrates that most Minnesotans support keeping abortion rights intact.
Still, a Republican takeover of the state government could result in harsher restrictions on abortion services; though these restrictions may be technically in line with the state Supreme Court ruling, they could still make accessing the procedure more difficult for many residents, as well as for those traveling to Minnesota because their home states have outright bans on abortion.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy