Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the right to abortions falls back to the states. That decision had been in place since 1973.
Many states have laws that will immediately ban abortions, some states have laws that allow abortions to continue, while there are a few that are still to be determined.
READ: Abortion status in all U.S. states
In Minnesota, there is a legal precedent that is similar to Roe v. Wade that allows abortions to continue, and in some ways it is stronger than the case the Supreme Court overturned Friday.
There was a time that abortions were illegal in Minnesota. In 1978 Minnesota passed a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions, except when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother and in cases in which pregnancy results from rape or incest.
But in 1993 a pro-abortion advocacy group filed a lawsuit claiming the 1978 law violated the right of low-income women to privacy and equal protection. That decision ultimately ended up in the Minnesota Supreme Court as Doe v. Gomez.
In its 1995 decision in Doe v. Gomez, the Minnesota Supreme Court found that the Minnesota Constitution guarantees the right of every Minnesotan to terminate a pregnancy. The Court explicitly found that the Minnesota Constitution offers broader protection than the United States Constitution of a person’s fundamental right to make reproductive healthcare choices without state interference.
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Simply said, Doe v. Gomez established a new state constitutional “right” to abortion. This right remains protected by the state Constitution even though Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.
Doe vs. Gomez actually goes further than that. The ruling also obligates the state to pay for abortions for low-income women who receive state assistance. That is something that was not required by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.
Since most of the Minnesota Supreme Court is made up of justices appointed by Democrats Mark Dayton and Tim Walz (five of the seven justices), it appears for now the right to abortion in Minnesota will stay.
However, there could be a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution banning abortion, if it passed the house, senate and was signed by the governor. That would mean voters would decide the outcome of abortions in Minnesota during the next General Election.
There have been two potential amendments in the hands of voters in 2012. One to ban gay marriage, another to show and ID at polling locations. Both of those were defeated. That history makes it very unlikely an abortion ban would be passed by voters Minnesota with most polls showing around two-thirds oppose banning them.
"Doe versus Gomez is very clear, but I also think there are things we can do in Minnesota to deepen and reinforce the right," Attorney General Keith Ellison said. "We can codify Doe versus Gomez in state law through passing legislation, we can pass a Constitutional Amendment which would then be a belt and suspender sort of approach."
Ellison adds that he thinks as of now, Doe v. Gomez is still "solid law" in the state.
The same is not true in Minnesota’s neighboring states where it suddenly has become illegal to seek abortions in Wisconsin, South Dakota and North Dakota, making Minnesota a destination for those in the Upper Midwest seeking to end pregnancies.
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