Video: Golden Valley Senator Opposes Bill to Ban State Funding of Abortions

A Minnesota Senate panel approved a bill that would prevent Minnesota tax payer money from paying for abortions. While in the committee, Senator Ron Latz (DFL - Golden Valley/St. Louis Park) spoke against several aspects of the bill this week.

Latz strongly opposed an earlier argument by Senator Dave Thompson (R - Lakeville) that state supplemented funding for abortions is a service that only benefits a specialized segment of the public, and is not a public good. Critically commenting on Sen. Thompson's remarks, Sen. Latz compared the funding to health care, saying,

"I wonder if there would be any constitutional issue, since we also pay for health care for thousands of Minnesotans and every time that health care is delivered to an individual it has a benefit to that individual's health."

The bill also indicates that original jurisdiction for any constitutional challenges will reside in the Minnesota State Supreme court. By bypassing district courts, any challenge bypasses fact finding and becomes a straight legal question: does the Minnesota state Constitution require taxpayers fund elective abortions? (MPR). 

Sen. Latz says that's forcing judges to become activist judges.

"I think the irony here is that just several days ago we had hours of testimony on an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution about the definition of marriage, and the whole purpose of that as stated by the witnesses … was to stay away from the courts because they are going to be so activist …" said Latz. "Now we have testimony saying they want activist judges, because we have 15 years of precedent and overturning that precedent would … basically be judges not adhering to precedent but being activist."

The bill will next be heard on the Senate Floor. 

Editor's Note: Golden Valley Patch regularly reports on the actions and votes our local representatives and senators are taking at the State Capitol.  Our videos are provided in partnership with The UpTake.