Overview:
Even when they are medically trained to do so, providers other than physicians could be charged with a felony crime if they prescribe medication abortion or provide the procedure early in pregnancy. Advanced-practice clinicians, like nurse practitioners and nurse midwives, are allowed to provide early abortion care in other states, including Montana and West Virginia. There is no other medical care, aside from abortion, that politicians have made it a crime for medical professionals to provide when they are medically trained to do so.
Signed into law: 1974
Impact:
Currently, there are only 8 places where Minnesotans can regularly access abortion care: five in the Twin Cities, one in Duluth, one in Rochester, and the mobile clinic Just the Pill. By making it illegal for nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, and other advanced practice clinicians to provide abortion care, the number of providers who can provide abortion care is severely limited. This is an attempt to drive abortion out of reach. By allowing advanced practice clinicians to provide medication abortion or abortion early in pregnancy, access to abortion care in Minnesota could increase dramatically and allow Minnesotans to receive care in their communities and from their own providers.