Minnesota abortion access challenge struck down in district court

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A lawsuit that banded together pregnancy health centers, doctors and potential mothers in an effort to challenge Minnesota’s abortion access laws has been dismissed in district court after being challenged by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellion.

Minnesota abortion access lawsuit

What we know:

In November 2024, several pregnancy health centers, doctors and potential mothers collectively filed a lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s abortion law, arguing they are in violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Women’s Life Care Center, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, and Dakota Hope Clinic, as well as, David Billings, MD, Dawn Schreifels, MD, and three unnamed mothers.

The lawsuit attempted a constitutional challenge to Minnesota’s abortion laws, which it claims, "have the irreparable termination of the pregnant mother’s relationship with her child by terminating the life of her child without providing any due process protections or the equal protection of the law." 

At its core, the litigation argued that an abortion in Minnesota is not medical treatment, but instead the "employment of a medical procedure to achieve a nonmedical objective: the termination of a pregnant mother’s constitutionally protected relationship with her child."

A termination of pregnancy is only achieved by the intentional termination of a child’s life, the lawsuit alleges.

District court ruling

Dig deeper:

However, in a Minnesota District Court filing, the court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing in their effort, stating that "a plaintiff must have suffered a concrete and specific injury caused by the defendant that can be redressed through judicial relief to bring a lawsuit to federal court."

The court also acknowledged that the legal arguments made by the plaintiffs did not identify the specific laws it sought to challenge.  

The backstory:

In 2023, Gov. Tim Walz signed legislation guaranteeing abortion access under Minnesota law, which at the time put Minnesota among the first states to implement abortion protections since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

What they're saying:

"This latest attack on abortion access in Minnesota is a reminder that anti-choice interest groups are constantly seeking new ways to ban abortion or make reproductive healthcare services harder to obtain," said Minnesota Attorney General Ellison in a statement following the decision. "For decades, those anti-choice interest groups worked to erode the abortion protections provided by Roe v. Wade until they finally found a way to eliminate those protections entirely. Now, they are trying the exact same thing at the state level. These anti-abortion interest groups are well-organized and well-funded, and they have the resources to look for every possible gap in the armor protecting abortion access in our state. We cannot allow them to succeed in that mission."