Press Release

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement on the recent Supreme Court decision to end Roe v. Wade:

“This Supreme Court’s ruling is a travesty of justice that will inflict tremendous suffering on countless people across America. With federal abortion protection gone, we know that Republicans are going to redouble their efforts to ban abortion in Minnesota, as Scott Jensen, Doug Wardlow, and Jim Schultz have promised.”

“The Minnesota DFL Party and our leaders will do everything in our power to defend access to abortion. Voters who don’t want to see anyone jailed for seeking reproductive health care must show up and vote like our health depends on it, because it does. Republicans will use the same playbook they used nationally to erode protections for abortion here in Minnesota, and the only way to stop that is by defeating them at the ballot box.”

Where Minnesota Republicans stand:

• Republican candidate for governor Scott Jensen has vowed to ban abortion with no exception for rape or incest, and his running mate, Matt Birk, has said that “abortion is not going to heal a rape victim.”
• Republican candidate for attorney general Doug Wardlow has vowed to challenge Minnesota’s state-level abortion protections and pledged to follow the lead of Mississippi in the case that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade.
• Republican candidate for attorney general Jim Schultz has pledged to go on offense against abortion protections in Minnesota.
• State House Republicans in Minnesota introduced a Texas-style abortion ban that would allow people to bring civil action against anyone they suspected of violating the law.