MN taxpayers have funded 80,000 abortions since 1995 Doe v. Gomez decision

ST. PAUL — More than 80,000 unborn children have been killed using taxpayer funds since a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling 22 years ago today. The Doe v. Gomez decision required taxpayer funding of elective abortion in Minnesota. "This grossly unjust policy has failed women, their unborn babies, and Minnesota taxpayers," said Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL). "Abortion is not a public good that should be supported with public money. It is not the mission of the state to use our tax dollars to abort thousands of unborn children each year." The Court's Dec. 15, 1995, Doe v. Gomez decision invented a right to abortion on demand in the state Constitution. This "right" would continue to apply in Minnesota even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that imposed abortion on demand nationwide. Doe v. Gomez also required the state—and, therefore, taxpayers—to bankroll abortions for low-income women who receive state assistance, something not required by the U.S. Supreme Court. From June 1994 (under an earlier decision) through 2015, state taxpayers reimbursed abortion practitioners more than $23.5 million for 77,389 abortions, according to Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS). Preliminary 2016 figures from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) add another 4,434 abortions. In 2015 alone (the most recent MDHS statistics available), state taxpayers paid $1,045,633 for 4,218 abortions. While the total number of abortions in the state is declining gradually, taxpayer funding of abortion has risen most years since 1995. Minnesota taxpayers now pay for 44.5 percent of all abortions performed in the state, according to MDH's 2016 statistics—the highest percentage ever. "The appalling number of taxpayer funded abortions—close to half the total—is keeping abortion numbers artificially high in Minnesota, year after year," Fischbach said. "Taxpayer money is propping up the abortion industry and enabling it to exploit low-income women with the offer of 'free' abortions." Polls consistently show public opposition to taxpayer funding of elective abortion. Recent legislation to end this practice in Minnesota has been blocked by some members of the Legislature and by Gov. Mark Dayton, who vetoed a bill to ban taxpayer funded abortions earlier this year.