Copyright 2000 Star Tribune
Star Tribune
(Minneapolis, MN)
June 29, 2000, Thursday, Metro Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 18A
LENGTH: 485 words
HEADLINE:
Decision will intensify lobbying, say Minnesota abortion activists
BYLINE: Jean Hopfensperger; Staff Writer
BODY:
Activists on both sides of the abortion issue
in Minnesota say the U.S. Supreme Court's abortion ruling will translate into
heightened political organizing across the state this year.
Noting the court's close vote for
striking down the ban on the procedure opponents call partial-birth
abortion, both sides say they will use the decision to lend a sense of
urgency to their agendas in races ranging from the state Legislature to the
White House.
"Today's decision shows
the fragility of the right to choose," said Tim Stanley, executive director of
Minnesota National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL).
Minnesota does not have a ban on the procedure at
the heart of the Nebraska law the court struck down, so Minnesota will not
immediately be affected by the decision. But such bans have been introduced in
the Legislature for several years. Abortion opponents say they'll examine the
court decision "to see what it allows."
"Legislators in Minnesota are anxious to
pass this ban," Jackie Schwietz, executive director of Minnesota Citizens
Concerned for Life (MCCL), said at a news conference in St. Paul.
The majority of legislators in the
Minnesota House support abortion restrictions. In the Senate, legislators who
support abortion rights hold a two-vote margin, said Sue Rockne, a lobbyist for
abortion rights.
Rockne and Schwietz noted
that all legislative seats are up for election this year, and said their
organizations would double their efforts to support candidates who share their
political agendas.
In another decision,
the court gave states greater leeway in regulating the activities of
demonstrators outside clinics where abortions are performed.
Minnesota law now prevents demonstrators
from blocking access to clinics. But it does not give patients a "bubble" _
personal space that demonstrators can't penetrate. The Colorado law that was
upheld by the court bars people from counseling, displaying signs or handing out
leaflets within 8 feet of patients.
However, some Minnesota clinics, such as
the Duluth Women's Health Care Center, have restraining orders against
demonstrators. For example, at the Duluth center demonstrators are barred from
protesting within 25 feet of the clinic, said Tina Welsh, executive director of
the center.
Welsh said she thinks the
ruling "increases the safety of women and of clinic workers. I feel very
strongly that these women have a right to walk in and not be harassed. And I
don't think the anti-choice people's rights are being violated."
But state Rep. Stephen Wenzel, DFL-Little Falls,
said the court's decision imposes "a limit on freedom of speech."
"If people entering the clinic are not
being physically obstructed or threatened, their right of access is not reduced
by the presence of other people on the sidewalk," he said.
LOAD-DATE: June 29, 2000
