5 facts to know about Kamala Harris' VP pick Tim Walz
1. Walz signed multiple pro-abortion bills into law
In 2023, Walz signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which declares that “Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.” The definition of “reproductive health care” as stated in the bill includes “abortion care.”
“Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right,” the legislation added. The law also established a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”
Later in 2023, Walz signed into law a measure that amends existing state statutes to ensure that state taxpayer funds can cover “abortion services” that are “determined to be medically necessary by the treating provider and delivered in accordance with all applicable Minnesota laws.” Previously, state funding was only available in cases where the abortion was determined to be a “medical necessity” or the pregnancy was the result of “criminal sexual conduct” or incest.
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The bill also eliminated the ban on the provision of abortions at “birth centers,” abolished the prohibition on the use of grant money to nonprofit organizations that perform abortions and the requirement that individuals who provide family planning services inform parents if an abortion is performed on their minor child and replaced the word “pregnant woman” with “an individual with the intent of terminating.”
Statutes repealed as part of the legislation include requirements that abortions be performed in a hospital after the first trimester, late-term abortions only take place in cases where the life or health of the mother is in danger and that babies born during an attempted abortion must receive medical care.
There have been reports of babies left to die and not given medical care since Walz signed this bill into law.
The legislation also eliminated a program that provided grants to organizations that seek “to support, encourage, and assist women in carrying their pregnancies to term and caring for their babies after birth by providing information on, referral to, and assistance with securing necessary services that enable women to carry their pregnancies to term and care for their babies after birth.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
