The following news release was issued today, Jan. 22, 2013.
ST. PAUL – Thousands of Minnesotans marched at the State Capitol today to urge lawmakers to protect the safety of women by licensing abortion centers. They also called for a ban on taxpayer funded abortions. The annual Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) March for Life commemorates the millions of lives lost to abortion.
The 2013 MCCL March for Life marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Jan. 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions that have resulted in the deaths of more than 578,000 unborn Minnesota children (Minnesota Department of Health), and more than 55 million unborn babies nationwide.
"Last year the abortionists killed more than 11,000 innocent unborn children in centers that are not even licensed or inspected," MCCL Executive Committee member Cathy Blaeser told the huge crowd of citizens gathered from across the state, despite the frigid weather. Blaeser served on the Minnesota Commission on End of Life Care. "This year we call again for abortion centers in our state to be licensed and inspected by the Minnesota Department of Health."
A legal abortion center in Philadelphia was recently inspected for the first time in more than 20 years. The state found not only filthy conditions, but evidence that a significant number of babies had been born alive, then killed by the severing of their spinal cords. At least two women died after going to the facility. Minnesota has no way of knowing whether abortion centers in the state are safe for women, because they are unregulated and uninspected.
MCCL's 2013 legislative agenda includes a call to repeal the Family Cap. Passed in 2003, Minnesota Statute 256J.24, subdivision 6, prohibits an increase in MFIP (Minnesota Family Investment Program) cash assistance for any child born after the parent has received DWP (Diversionary Work Program) and/or MFIP for more than 10 months. This provision is commonly known as a Family Cap on welfare families.
Since the height of welfare reform efforts in the mid-1990s, several states have abandoned the Family Cap as a failed policy, including New Jersey, Illinois and Maryland. Currently Minnesota is one of only 18 states to have a Family Cap in law. Various academic institutions, including a widely cited study from Rutgers University, have concluded that not only do Family Caps not lower birthrates for poor families, but Family Caps increase abortion rates.
MCCL's agenda also calls upon lawmakers to end taxpayer funded abortions, which account for 34 percent of all abortions performed in the state. This is the highest percentage since the 1995 Doe v. Gomez decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court required taxpayers to pay for abortions performed on low-income women. This percentage has increased nearly every year since the court ruling. Taxpayers have funded 62,350 abortions since the decision.
Many of Minnesota's pro-life elected officials, including state legislators, were in attendance and were introduced during the brief program on the Capitol steps. Pro-life Members of Congress sent written greetings.
View early photos of the MCCL March for Life and from today's event on the MCCL website. A follow-up news release will be sent later today.
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. Please subscribe to our RSS Feed.
