A federal lawsuit filed in Minnesota accuses state officials and abortion clinics of violating mothers’ constitutional rights by coercing them into uninformed abortions.
Filed by a group of pregnancy resource organizations and medical doctors, the lawsuit says Attorney General Keith Ellison, Gov. Tim Walz, Planned Parenthood, and other groups are working “to effectuate the termination of the pregnant mother’s constitutionally protected relationship with her child whether or not such termination is voluntary.”
In short, the 148-page complaint argues that the relationship between a mother and child is sacred, constitutionally protected, and Minnesota’s abortion laws deprive mothers of due process that guards the parent-child relationship.
For example, when a mother gives up her child voluntarily via adoption, or involuntarily through a custody decision, there are a variety of means that ensure the mother is fully informed and the interests of the mother and child are protected.
However, the plaintiffs argue that Minnesota’s abortion laws irrevocably deprive mothers of the due process protections that exist whenever a parent-child relationship is severed. As such, the plaintiffs are requesting that many of Minnesota’s abortion laws be declared unconstitutional and state officials be required to cease implementation of those laws.
Additionally, the lawsuit requests that abortion clinics “cease and desist the termination of the pregnant mother’s relationship with her child by an abortion, both surgical abortions and medical abortions, without first conducting a full court hearing to determine whether the pregnant mother’s waiver of her constitutional rights is knowing, and that her consent to the termination of those rights is completely voluntary and completely informed.”
A website affiliated with the legal effort says “most abortions occur without true informed consent” and “Mothers are regularly lied to, misled, and rushed into life-ending decisions while abortion facilities profit from their pain, trauma, and grief.”
On that website, a former Planned Parenthood worker said, “We were trained to tell any pregnant mother who asked, ‘What’s there?’ or ‘Is my baby there?’ that it was ‘just some tissue.'” The Planned Parenthood worker also said she was told to tell mothers that “the tissue could not feel pain.”
Megan Bartz, who says she was pressured into getting an abortion, shared her trauma, saying, “I often dreamt that my child stood in front of me and I was trying to comfort and snuggle him. As I reached out, the baby drifts away and disappears. When I wake up, I feel I am suffering the loss of my baby again and again, over and over.”
The lawsuit also argues that state law extends immunity to abortion providers who would otherwise be prosecuted for the killing of an unborn child, a crime punishable in Minnesota by life imprisonment.
According to the complaint, only the courts can terminate parental rights, but Minnesota’s abortion laws allow abortion providers to usurp that authority in direct conflict with the interests of pregnant mothers.
“As a result, there is no state court or other governmental authority standing between anyone coercing a pregnant mother into terminating her rights by an irrevocable abortion, and the entities and individuals who profit from it.”
The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for July 11.
Symone Harms
Symone Harms is a Media Production and Business Marketing student at Bethel University. She is actively involved in The Royals Investment Fund, The 25, theatre, and other leadership positions. She also cohosts Rooted, a podcast dedicated to being rooted in truth, growing in freedom, and prospering in life. A Minnesota native with a passion for storytelling and digital media, she aspires to a career in broadcasting as a news anchor and reporter.
