Several state Democrats, including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, spoke at a rally Monday in defense of the “right” to abortion, a procedure that always involves the intentional killing of an innocent human life.
Some speakers at the rally seemed to even acknowledge this scientific fact while addressing the crowd gathered on the steps of the Minnesota Capitol.
“For years, I’ve been listening to those who would outlaw abortion talk about the sanctity of life, assuming that if people only understood the biology of pregnancy they would all choose to become parents. For years, I have fumed at their hypocrisy surrounding pregnancy and birth control. I’ve watched them deny access to education and funding for contraception and health care, all the while proclaiming to be pro-life,” said state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart.
She criticized her Republican colleagues for having the “gall” to “repeat the same old lines about the tragedy of abortion,” prompting jeers from the audience.
“And you saw me stand and proclaim ownership over my uterus on the Senate floor and my knowledge, thank you very much, of how pregnancy works and that I knew those were babies growing inside me. I don’t need anybody to tell me how to make a decision about my own reproduction,” she continued.
Monday’s rally was organized in response to Texas’s new Heartbeat Act, which bans abortions in the state after a heartbeat can be detected in an unborn baby. But unlike other heartbeat bills, the law is enforced exclusively through private civil actions against doctors who perform illegal abortions and those who aid and abet in the performance of an illegal abortion.
“There are no claims against the mother. We want to make sure folks realize that … I read a couple of places saying the mothers would receive criminal penalties. There are no criminal penalties in this bill at all,” one of the original authors of the bill told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the law, a move many pro-abortion advocates think signals the end of Roe v. Wade. In Minnesota, however, abortion access is protected under the state constitution thanks to the 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court case of Doe v. Gomez.
But pro-abortion Democrats would still like “to go further” by codifying the “fundamental right” to an abortion in Minnesota law.
Lt. Gov. Flanagan said she “burst into tears” when the Supreme Court allowed the Texas law to take effect.
“The reason I don’t want to be here is because I am so sick and tired of people deciding what is best for others. I am sick and tired, and as Sen. Johnson said, I call bullshit,” said Flanagan, whose boss just announced a vaccine mandate for all state agency employees.
“I got angry because I have grown up and so many of you have grown up in a time when we have been protected by the umbrella of Roe, and now my daughter does not have that same protection and I am angry,” she said.
Flanagan then compared the Texas ban to the “history of forced sterilization in our country” and claimed “people have been making decisions about our indigenous bodies for generations.”
“I am about to go mama bear on this whole place,” she threatened.
Pro-life advocates are also gearing up for a fight and will kick off their annual 40 Days for Life campaign Sept. 22 at the Planned Parenthood in St. Paul.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
