Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a bill Thursday that would have required licensing of abortion clinics. He's also expected to veto another bill that would require a doctor to be present whenever an abortion pill is prescribed or swallowed.
The abortion pill measure won final approval from the Republican-led Minnesota House on Thursday, just hours before Dayton rejected the licensure bill. Dayton said in a statement that the proposed law would have forced "inappropriate and unworkable" new requirements on the few facilities that offer abortions. The bill's language, he said, was so vague -- it said clinics could be monitored for "conduct or practices detrimental to the welfare of the patient" -- that complaints could have been filed for almost any reason.
Abortion and contraception have resurfaced as divisive political issues both nationwide and in Minnesota this year, with Republicans and Democrats fighting battles many thought were settled.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Claire Robling, R-Jordan, said that "there should be some light shining in these places." Robling estimated that she is just two votes shy of the 45 needed in the Senate to override Dayton's veto. "I remember the argument [when abortion was legalized], that we needed to bring abortion out of the back alleys to protect women's health. I still don't feel we're protecting women's health," she said.
The bill would have required Minnesota to license any facility that provides 10 or more abortions a month. The six abortion clinics in Minnesota that would have been affected by the bill, the governor wrote, are among 1,250 outpatient clinics statewide that operate without licenses, but with supervision.
Doctors and nurses are licensed, and the abortion clinics are inspected by the National Abortion Federation.
"The legislation targets only facilities which provide abortions," Dayton wrote. "If regulation of clinics were the concern, the bill should have required licensure of all clinics, not just a select few. If the Legislature wants to create a new regulatory scheme for health care clinics, then all clinics should be treated equally. No clinic or procedure should be the focus of special and unique regulatory requirements."
In a sign of the passion behind the abortion bills, both made it through the end-of-session crush while issues such as the multimillion-dollar bonding bill, tax reforms and a new Vikings stadium are still stuck in legislative mud.
