Minnesota Republicans Push to Ban Access to Life-Saving Abortion Medication

MINNESOTA - On February 29, 2024, the majority of Minnesota's Republican congressional delegation - Representatives Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach, and Pete Stauber - joined an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone.

"Once again, Minnesota Republicans are disregarding the needs and wants of millions of Minnesotans in favor of extreme and dangerous restrictions on abortion," said Marissa Luna, executive director of Alliance for a Better Minnesota. "A ban on abortion medication would be devastating to Minnesotans who deserve the right to control our own bodies and lives. We need leaders who will reduce barriers to and protect access to safe, legal abortion in our state, not strip away our rights and devastate reproductive health care.”

Supreme Court justices are set to hear oral arguments on March 26 in a case brought by anti-abortion groups against mifepristone that could limit medication abortion access across the country.

Even though Minnesota has legal protections for abortion care, the case could still have devastating effects by banning abortion medication nationwide. In 2023, sixty-one percent of abortions performed in Minnesota were administered through medication. The ruling could also prohibit shipments of other medical supplies used in clinics, effectively suppressing abortion procedures in all 50 states.

Sixty percent of Minnesota voters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and sixty-five percent would oppose new severe restrictions on abortion.

Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach, and Pete Stauber have a record of extreme positions on abortion. Finstad, Fischbach, and Stauber have supported bills that would defund abortion care, roll back protections for patients traveling out of state for abortion procedures, and ban abortion nationwide.

All three representatives celebrated the devastating Supreme Court case that ended Roe v. Wade and the constitutional protection of abortion.

Republican congressman Tom Emmer did not sign onto the amicus brief but has pushed extreme anti-abortion policy while in Congress. In 2021, Tom Emmer co-sponsored a near-total abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.