ST. PAUL (CN) – Reproductive health care advocates in Minnesota Wednesday filed a sweeping lawsuit challenging several state statutes that restrict a woman’s access to abortions and to care for sexually transmitted diseases.
An obstetrician and a certified nurse midwife – who are not named in the complaint to protect themselves from potential harassment, retaliation or violence – and a religious group claim that many of the state’s reproductive and sexual health laws are discriminatory, unnecessarily burdensome on health care providers, and force physicians to ignore scientific advancements and practice medicine with “in accordance with obsolete standards.”
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from the Lawyering Project and Gender Justice, a nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization.
“Minnesota’s abortion laws are not only outdated; they are harmful,” Gender Justice Executive Director Megan Peterson said in a statement. “Far too often, they prevent people from getting the care they need, when they need it. They force health care providers to follow politically-motivated mandates rather than best practices and standards of care.”
The health care advocates are asking Minnesota’s Second Judicial District Court to strike down state statutes that prevent trained nurses from providing early abortion care, prohibit “advance-practice” clinicians from providing abortions, mandate a medically-unnecessary extra appointment and waiting period before an abortion procedure, and require minors to notify both of their parents before seeking an abortion.
“Many of these laws are out-of-step with contemporary medical practice, are contrary to Minnesota’s constitutional respect for individual privacy, and reflect antiquated views about women’s role in society,” the lawsuit states. “In addition, they fail to honor the diverse religious traditions of Minnesota residents.”
One law the plaintiffs are challenging in their suit against the state is a fetal disposition statute, which requires fetal remains to be buried or cremated.
“In medicine, the standard method for disposition of human tissue is incineration followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill,” the lawsuit states. “Cremation and burial are methods used for disposition of human remains after a person has died. By requiring fetal tissue to be disposed of by methods used for the remains of a person who has died – to the exclusion of standard medical methods – the fetal tissue disposition requirement equates fetal tissue with the remains of a person who has died.
The plaintiffs also want to repeal a state law that bans individuals and organizations from advertising treatments for sexually transmitted infections treatments. A section of this law pertaining to miscarriages and abortions was found to be unconstitutional in 1983.
Scott Fischbach, executive director of anti-abortion organization Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said in a statement that the suit is “very extreme and far-reaching” and that Minnesota’s abortion laws are consistent with the state Constitution.
"It targets reasonable and common sense laws that have been in place for decades and that have helped thousands of people," Fischbach said.
"Parents should be notified when their minor children are undergoing abortion,” Fischbach added. “Minnesotans should know about how abortion is practiced in our state. Yet the lawsuit seeks to undermine all of this."
Under the two-parent notification law, a pregnant minor may not consent to an abortion unless an abortion provider first notifies both of minors’ parents and waits for 48 hours.
The plaintiffs contend that most teenagers voluntarily involve their parents in pregnancy decisions and that not all teenagers live in two-parent households or have meaningful relationship with the non-custodial parent.
In 2017, 248 minors had abortions in Minnesota, and 95% of those minors were between 15 and 17 years old, according to the suit.
Kelli Clement, the social justice minister of plaintiff First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, said in a statement that her group has a “long history of supporting health, rights and justice.”
“We affirm that Minnesotans should be able to make their own personal health care decisions without shame and stigma – which these laws only make worse,” Clement said. “As people of faith and Unitarian Universalists, we know that people who experience abortion and miscarriage need our compassion, trust, and support, and we are on their side.”
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