If We Want Reproductive Freedom Here in Minnesota, We Need to UnRestrict Our Abortion Laws

Co-authors: Stephanie Shea and Shayla Walker, Our Justice

––

Right now Our Justice is a plaintiff in the Doe v. Minnesota lawsuit to remove Minnesota’s (too) many abortion restrictions and a proud member of the UnRestrict Minnesota campaign. This isn’t our first time rallying on behalf of our clients – we were also a plaintiff in the 1995 case that solidified protections to abortion in the Minnesota State Constitution.

The laws we are fighting against do nothing but shame and harm people needing care. Every day, Minnesotans are forced to jump through complicated logistical hoops in order to access normal health care. Through our Abortion Assistance fund, we speak with clients who are coordinating long-distance travel, time-off, daycare, follow-up care, all while trying to raise hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars they just don’t have.

Then, if they can make it through to their appointments, they must listen to demeaning and medically irrelevant information their physician is forced by law to provide. And THEN they have to wait 24 hours before the procedure can even start.

Despite the lip-service anti-abortion advocates might proclaim – we know that these restrictions are not about the health of the people who can get pregnant, nor about the future of our children. We are still waiting for their plans to address the devastating fact that Black Minnesota women are 2.8x more likely to die from pregnancy related complications, or the reality that our schools are segregated worse than they were in the 1970s.

Until then, we will keep speaking out on behalf of our clients, fighting for Reproductive Justice in our communities, and pushing forward with our UnRestrict community partners.