After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Expanded Access

Minnesota

Abortion will remain legal in Minnesota. The state’s highest court has recognized the right to abortion under the Minnesota Constitution and, in 2023, the state created a statutory right to reproductive freedom.

State Legal Details

Restrictions in Effect

  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement

State Protections

Minnesota has constitutional protections for abortion.1 In 2023, Minnesota enacted a statutory right for reproductive freedom.2 It states:

Every individual has a fundamental right to make decisions about the individual’s reproductive health care, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care. Every individuals who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right.0

Minnesota law prohibits local government from regulating this fundamental right in a more restrictive manner.3

On June 25, 2022, the Minnesota Governor issued an executive order prohibiting executive branch cooperation with out-of-state investigations and legal actions arising from the lawful provision of abortion care in Minnesota.4 In 2023, the Minnesota legislature enacted an interstate shield law protecting providers, patients, and people who help others access abortion care from professional licensure consequences and the reach of out-of-state investigations, or legal actions that arise from abortions that are legal in Minnesota.5 The state’s interstate shield protections also prohibits extradition for charges stemming from lawful abortion services in Minnesota.6 Minnesota provides public funding for medically necessary abortions7, requires private insurance coverage for abortion8, and protects clinic access by prohibiting obstruction.9

Restrictions

Although Minnesota repealed numerous medically unnecessary restrictions in 2023,10 all of which had been permanently enjoined,11 Minnesota law retains permanently enjoined requirements12 that both parents and legal guardians be notified about a minor’s abortion.13

Minnesota law requires abortion providers to submit reports to the state14 and retains enjoined penalties for providers who violate the enjoined restrictions on minors’ access.15

Historical Restrictions

Minnesota repealed its pre-Roe ban in 197416 and longstanding medically unnecessary restrictions in 2023.17

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion remains legal in Minnesota. The state’s highest court has recognized the right to abortion under the Minnesota Constitution and, in 2023, the state created a statutory right to reproductive freedom.

  1. See Women of State of Minn. by Doe v. Gomez, 542 N.W.2d 17, 27 (Minn. 1995) (“We therefore conclude that the right of privacy under the Minnesota Constitution encompasses a woman’s right to decide to terminate her pregnancy.”). See also State v. Davidson, 481 N.W.2d 51, 56 (Minn. 1992) (“We have stated that in appropriate cases we will construe liberties more broadly under the state constitution than under the federal, although we will not do so lightly.”); State v. Gray, 413 N.W.2d 107, 111 (Minn. 1987) (holding that the Minnesota Constitution protects the right to privacy just as the federal Constitution does); State v. Fuller, 374 N.W.2d 722, 726 (Minn. 1985) (“It is axiomatic that a state supreme court may interpret its own state constitution to offer greater protection of individual rights than does the federal constitution.”); Doe v. Minnesota, No. 62-CV-19-3868 (Minn. 2d Jud. Dist. July 11, 2022); Minn. Stat. § 145.409, subdiv. 4. ↩︎
  2. Minn. Stat. § 145.409. ↩︎
  3. Minn. Stat. § 145.409, subdiv. 5. ↩︎
  4. Emergency Exec. Order No. 22-16, Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services in Minnesota (Minn. June 25, 2022), https://s3.amazonaws.com/fn-document-service/file-by-sha384/99904f2c91e60d3d9298f337bd04617f2f04bb0ccd75fec58e8adb7046eea04024045fb4cdc8c4b930671b260765dbcb. ↩︎
  5. Minn. Stat. §§ 147.091, subdiv. 1c; 147A.13, subdiv. 1a; 148.261, subdiv. 1b; 151.071, subdiv. 2b; 245C.15, subdiv. 6; 548.252; 604.415; 629.13; 629.14. ↩︎
  6. Minn. Stat. §§ 629.02; 629.05; 629.06. ↩︎
  7. Women of State of Minn. by Doe v. Gomez, 542 N.W.2d 17, 32 (Minn. 1995) (striking down law limiting public funds for abortions except in cases of life, rape, or incest because “the State cannot refuse to provide abortions to MA/GAMC-eligible women when the procedure is necessary for therapeutic reasons” under the right to privacy of the Minnesota Constitution). ↩︎
  8. Minn. Stat. § 62Q.524. ↩︎
  9. Minn. Stat. § 609.7495. ↩︎
  10. S.F. 2995, 93d Gen. Assem., Reg. Sess. (Minn. 2023), repealing Minn. Stat. §§ 145.412, subdiv. 3 (viability ban); 145.4242(a)-(c) (waiting period and biased counseling); 145.412, subdiv. 1(1) (physician only law); 145.4247, subdiv. 1 (civil liability for violations of the Women’s Right to Know Act); 145.412, subdivs. 1(3), 1(4), 4, 145.413, subdiv. 3 (felony penalties); 145.412, subdivs. 1(2), 3(1) (facilities requirements). ↩︎
  11. See Hodgson v. Lawson, 542 F.2d 1350, 1358 (8th Cir. 1976) (per curiam); Doe v. Minnesota, No. 62-CV-19-3868 (Minn. Dist. Ct. July 11, 2022) (order granting permanent injunction); Doe v. Minnesota, No. 62-CV-19-3868 (Minn. Dist. Ct. May 29, 2024) (order upholding permanent injunction). ↩︎
  12. Doe v. Minnesota, No. 62-CV-19-3868 (Minn. Dist. Ct. July 11, 2022) (order granting permanent injunction). ↩︎
  13. Minn. Stat. § 144.343, subdivs. 2-3. ↩︎
  14. Minn. Stat. §§ 145.4131, subdiv. 2; 145.413, subdiv. 2. ↩︎
  15. Minn. Stat. § 144.343, subdivs. 2-6 (two parent notification law and criminal penalties), held unconstitutional in Doe v. Minnesota, No. 62-CV-19-3868 (Minn. Dist. Ct. July 11, 2022) (order granting permanent injunction). ↩︎
  16. Minn. Stat. §§ 617.18; 617.19 (repealed by 1974 Minn. Laws 265, ch. 177, §7). ↩︎
  17. 2023 Minn. Laws ch. 70 (S.F. 2995) (repealing various abortion-related restrictions). ↩︎