Minnesota’s fight for safe and legal access to abortion didn’t start or end with Roe v. Wade. State law in the 1950s considered getting or actively seeking an abortion, with or without actually following through with the procedure, a criminal offense. In the mid-twentieth century, a shift began.
1965: Griswold v. Connecticut. Though not concerning abortion, the Supreme Court ruled that a state ban that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control violated a couple’s marital privacy, citing the Fourteenth Amendment’s “right to privacy” among other amendments. This ruling set a fundamental “right to privacy” precedent that helped decide many cases, including the historic Roe v. Wade decision.
1970: Doe v. Randall. In April 1970, Dr. Jane E. Hodgson, a pioneering advocate for abortion rights in Minnesota, performed an abortion on 23-year-old Jane Doe. Doe, who was about 12 weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion, had contracted rubella, which can result in birth defects. The abortion was medically advised but contested.
In May 1970, Dr. Hodgson was indicted for the crime of providing an abortion. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and a year of probation and lost her medical license. It was the first time in U.S. history that a doctor had been charged for illegally providing a medically approved abortion. Her conviction was overturned after Roe.
1973: Roe v. Wade. The landmark decision legalized abortion in the United States. Authored by Minnesota Justice Harry Blackmun (who had been a council to the Mayo Clinic), the decision ruled that a woman’s right to privacy (based on the precedent of privacy in Griswold and the Liberty Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment) outweighs a state’s right to ban abortion. The court set restrictions based on the term of the pregnancy; in the first trimester, the choice to end the pregnancy was entirely up to the mother, meaning states could not set restrictions on abortions in that span. In the second trimester, the state could regulate but not ban abortion. In the third trimester, the state could ban abortions to the point of “fetal viability” except when the mother’s health was at risk.
1976: The Hyde Amendment. Known as the ban on federal funding of abortion, Hyde was first passed in 1976. The original amendment fully blocked federal Medicaid funding for abortion services. The language of the bill has evolved over time, when it took effect in 1980, Congress had added exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. It had originally included serious health in the case that a woman had a very serious health condition, but they later removed that exception. The Hyde Amendment is a “rider” to an annual appropriations bill, which means it has to be renewed by Congress each year. With each renewal there’s the potential to change the language or drop it altogether. Today Hyde language prohibits federal dollars from being used to pay for abortions except if the pregnancy was the result of rape, incest or the life of the mother is in danger. This ruling emphasized the importance of abortion funds, which help increase access and remove barriers to abortion care.
1980: Planned Parenthood of Minnesota v. State of Minnesota. Calls to defund Planned Parenthood are not new. Over 40 years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a Minnesota statute that denied government funding to certain agencies that provide abortions. The statute pertained to some nonprofits—including Planned Parenthood of Minnesota (PPM), but not hospitals or health maintenance organizations. It was argued that the statute targeted and sought to punish PPM. The statute was found unconstitutional and successfully struck down.
1990: Hodgson v. Minnesota. Once again, Dr. Hodgson challenged a Minnesota law that required minors to get permission from both biological parents before having an abortion—even parents who were divorced, who had not married, or were unknown to the person seeking an abortion. Dr. Hodgson believed it was a targeted law since minors didn’t need consent for any other medical procedure. The court determined the law was an “unnecessary barrier to care” but upheld notification for at least one parent and a 48 hour waiting period. The court also secured an option for minors to petition the court for an abortion to prevent their parents from being notified.
1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Besides Roe, Casey is the second most important court ruling relating to abortion as it set the new standard by which all future abortion cases were judged. The Court preserved the right to choose abortion before viability but allowed states to enact their own abortion restrictions after viability as long as they don’t place an “undue burden” on the mother. Under the “undue burden test,” state regulations can be deemed “unconstitutional” if “its purpose is to place a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion.” State laws like waiting periods, telemedicine restrictions, and average cost, can bar access to abortion without directly banning it and can have disparate effects lower income populations.
1995: Doe v. Gomez. Almost 30 years ago, six Minnesota women helped cement abortion rights to be protected under the State constitution. Jane Doe, a low income, Black mother who was a victim of rape, couldn’t afford an abortion and through a state law, her Medical Assistance health insurance could not cover the procedure.
Doe and five other women representing the Women of the State (including Dr. Hodgson), challenged the law by arguing that the Minnesota Constitution protects the right and choice to have an abortion. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the right to choose is protected by the Minnesota Constitution through the right to privacy and that a woman “cannot be coerced into choosing childbirth over abortion by a legislated funding policy.” The decision granted stronger state protections than those at the federal level by allowing abortion coverage for low-income women who receive state assistance. The ruling stated, “Minnesota has an interest in assuring those within its borders that their disputes will be resolved in accordance with this state’s own concepts of justice.”
2003: “Women’s Right to Know” act. A Minnesota bill that started as a call to legalize circuses around State Fair time, was discretely revised to add what came to be known as the “Women’s Right to Know” act. The amendment was voted on before all the legislators were able to read a copy. The act required women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours and receive certain information about the procedure “in words chosen by the state” before the abortion.
2022: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. On June 24, the Supreme Court’s decision surrounding the Mississippi Gestational Age Act— which bars most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy violates the standards set by Roe and Casey. Effectively overturning Roe and Casey, the decision, penned by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., claims that the constitution does not confer a right to abortion and doesn’t consider it an unenumerated right which “should be deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the comcept of ordered liberty” to be constitutionally protected.
The ruling ultimately returned the right to regulate abortion to the states.
Where Minnesota Stands
Post-Roe, Minnesota is now considered a safe haven for reproductive care in the Midwest. And while the right to abortion is protected in Minnesota, it is still subject to scrutiny. Currently, certain state laws restrict access, intimidate providers and patients, and increase costs.
The Informed Consent clause of the Women’s Right to Know Act mandates a 24 hour waiting period and requires doctors to provide patients with medically-irrelevant information like the false link between abortion and breast cancer during an extra, medically unnecessary appointment. A doctor could risk losing their medical license if they do not follow the script. Abortion is the only health care procedure regulated in this way.
Thanks to Dr. Hodgson, minors no longer need parental permission or consent for abortions, but state law still requires both parents of a minor to be notified of an abortion at least 48 hours before the appointment. Minors are also required to prove the parental relationship through birth certificates and several other documents. Those who don’t have the option to tell their parents can petition and file for a “judicial bypass” where a judge will allow for an abortion without parental notification.
Other laws, including the cremation or burial of a fetus and preventing advanced-practice clinicians from providing abortion care, can cause emotional harm and create obstacles to abortion access.
Where Minnesota Is Heading
The fight continues. Although the right to abortion is protected, it’s still at risk. There are current motions that seek to change the access that is available in Minnesota.
2019: Doe v Minnesota. The current lawsuit, filed by Gender Justice and the Lawyering Project, challenges many outdated abortion restrictions that continue to increase costs, intimidate patients and providers, and put abortion care out of reach for Minnesotans.
2022: “Fetal heartbeat” bill. This bill introduced to the state legislature in February seeks to ban abortions “when a fetal heartbeat is detected.” While the bill is unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled House, many take it as a sign that reproductive care in Minnesota is under threat.