Minnesota medical providers and public officials are preparing to welcome patients traveling from Iowa, where a ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy goes into effect Monday.
On Thursday, Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan toured the Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota, a nonprofit abortion clinic in the city of Bloomington. She welcomed Iowa residents who were seeking abortions after the state’s new restrictions take effect.
Previously, abortion was legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy in Iowa. Last July, the state’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a new ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, which is often before women know they are pregnant. There are limited exceptions in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality or when the life of the mother is in danger.
Sarah Traxler, an OB-GYN based in Minnesota and the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said Iowa’s law could have ripple effects throughout the region.
“When the Dobbs decision came down, many of the patients coming to Iowa were from Missouri,” Traxler said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio. “This is going to have resounding impacts on the region itself, especially the Midwest and the South.”
Traxler added that the Iowa law will “further widen already gaping health inequities affecting the working class, Black people, people living in rural areas and young people.”
The Iowa Supreme Court reiterated in June that there is no constitutional right to an abortion in the state and ordered a hold on the law to be lifted. The district court judge’s orders last week set July 29 as the first day of enforcement.
Across the country, the state of abortion access has being changing ever since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Trigger laws immediately went into effect, new restrictions were passed, court battles put those on hold and in some places, there was expanded access.
In states with restrictions, the main abortion options are getting pills by mail or underground networks and traveling, vastly driving up demand in states with more access.
Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota has served patients from South Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida and Arkansas over the past year. Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of the clinic, said she expects to see an increase in patient demand after Iowa’s restrictions take effect.
Flanagan said Minnesota would remain committed to serving people traveling from other states seeking abortion care.
“If you’re afraid, come to Minnesota,” Flanagan said. “We’ve got you.”
Not all are fond of the state’s approach.
Cathy Blaeser, the co-executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said “Minnesotans are not looking to be the abortion mecca of the Midwest” and that MCCL is “encouraged to see Iowa’s increased protection for human beings in the womb, as well as increased protections for women.”
Of the states bordering Minnesota, only Wisconsin permits abortions up to 22 weeks.
North Dakota has a near-total ban, as does South Dakota. In November, South Dakota voters will determine whether the state would be “prohibited from regulating a woman’s decision to have an abortion” in the first three months of pregnancy.
The ballot measure would only allow abortion regulation from the second trimester forward, and only permit that regulation if it does not interfere with the health of the pregnant person.
This report includes information from MPR News.
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