Minnesota's abortion law is unbelievable
In 2023, the legislative session opened with pro-abortion majorities in both the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, and a pro-abortion governor fresh off his re-election. This “trifecta” made their priorities for the session very clear from the start: both House File 1 and Senate File 1—the first bills introduced—were the “Protect Reproductive Options” (PRO) Act. In reality, the PRO Act had very little to do with protecting reproduction and much more to do with preventing it. Although wrapped in relatively innocuous language, the bill brought unlimited abortion to Minnesota.
The PRO Act says:
Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care. (b) Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right.
Notice the absence of qualifiers on “individual.” It’s not “every adult,” or “every individual over the age of 16”; there are no rights of parental involvement in these decisions regarding minor children. A child, no matter her age, can make “autonomous decisions” about her “reproductive health,” which the law defines as including not only abortion but also sterilization, among other things.
These decisions are classified as a “fundamental right,” which is on par with education for children between the ages of 7-17 in Minnesota. Taxpayers fund public schools to ensure that every child in that age range can receive an education. Fundamental rights cannot be curtailed based on ability to pay. So a requirement for taxpayer-funded abortion was implicitly codified by this law. To push it even further, consider the demographic least likely to be able to pay for their abortions: the minor children seeking abortions behind their parents’ backs because they can now make “autonomous decisions” without parental involvement.
Most insidiously, notice there are no gestational limits on the “fundamental right to ... obtain an abortion.” Abortion, therefore, cannot be limited at any point throughout pregnancy in Minnesota. People will say that it is unbelievable that the state would permit abortion-up-to-birth; they are correct, it is unbelievable. Most people who identify as pro-choice do not want late-term abortions on fully-formed babies. However, these are all too common. In Minnesota in 2024, 314 abortions happened after 20 weeks’ gestation. This was more than the number of U.S. combat deaths in Operation Desert Storm.
When you discuss abortion with your friends and family, we would encourage you to explain how extreme Minnesota’s abortion laws have become. A Knights of Columbus poll from January 2026 found that 57 percent of Americans felt abortion should be limited to the first trimester at the absolute most. The average person doesn’t want to expand abortion as far as the 2023 Minnesota legislature did; we can build understanding with pro-choice people by pointing this out. If you don’t feel confident explaining the legislative jargon, MCCL has materials that explain the legal changes—you can contact the MCCL office to get some—and a webpage with more information.
Minnesota abortion law goes far beyond what even most pro-choice people want. Explaining that is a great way to build rapport with them. However, expect skepticism from them because the law is so extreme that it’s unbelievable!
