MCCL-backed amendment would end injustice of taxpayer funded abortion in GAMC
ST. PAUL — The Minnesota House of Representatives today failed in a 67-67 vote to pass a ban on taxpayer funded abortions in the state's General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program. Supported by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), the ban would have been the first limit on public funding of abortion since the Minnesota Supreme Court imposed abortion funding.
"State representatives today failed to vote in accord with the people of Minnesota, the majority of whom do not want to be forced to pay for elective abortions," said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. "MCCL has renewed its call on state lawmakers to reverse this injustice."
Minnesota taxpayers have been required to fund elective abortions since the Minnesota Supreme Court's 1995 Doe v. Gomez ruling. In that decision, the Court created a state "right" to abortion on demand and obligated taxpayer funding of abortion.
Taxpayers have been forced to fund abortion procedures done under both GAMC and Medical Assistance (MA), the Minnesota Medicaid program. In 1993, taxpayers paid about $7,000 for 23 abortions performed in cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother was in danger. In 2007, taxpayers funded 3,914 abortions at a cost of $1.58 million, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services; the total since 1994 is 47,115 abortions and $14.1 million.
These statistics demonstrate that the abortion industry has used taxpayer funding to greatly increase its revenues by exploiting low-income women.
"Taxpayer funded abortions—forcing citizens to pay for the killing of unborn children—is an issue that rises above partisan and ideological politics," Fischbach added. "Minnesotans must not be forced to pay abortionists for their destruction of innocent human life."
MCCL is Minnesota's oldest and largest pro-life organization with more than 70,000 member families and 240 chapters across the state. For more information about MCCL, visit www.mccl.org.
