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Ellison among attorneys general criticizing Texas abortion ruling
The group of top state legal officers released a statement denouncing the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to reverse a lower court’s ruling allowing the procedure.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in June 2023.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is among 11 attorneys general across the country who have spoken out against the enforcement of Texas’ strict abortion ban.
The group of top state legal officers released a statement Wednesday, denouncing the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to reverse a lower court’s ruling that would allow the procedure if a pregnant person’s life is at risk.
This latest case stems specifically from a 31-year-old Texas woman named Kate Cox, whose health and life were deemed at risk over the discovery of a fatal genetic condition affecting her fetus. A petition filed in district court on Dec. 5 said at 20 weeks pregnant, Cox had been in and out of emergency rooms multiple times in the span of a month, subsequently discovering her unborn child’s dire diagnosis.
Court documents show Cox’s doctor testified that the condition of her patient’s unborn child could pose serious risks to Cox’s “life, her health, and her future fertility,” should she continue her pregnancy.
On Dec. 7, the district court judge ruled Cox could receive an abortion under the state’s exception to the law that requires a “sufficiently life-threatening” condition. That ruling was immediately appealed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who shared a letter on social media threatening doctors and health care facilities with legal action should they allow Cox the procedure.
In the Texas Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 11, the court said, in part, “No one disputes that Ms. Cox’s pregnancy has been extremely complicated. Any parents would be devastated to learn of their unborn child’s trisomy 18 diagnosis. Some difficulties in pregnancy, however, even serious ones, do not pose the heightened risks to the mother the exception encompasses.”
As a result of the court’s decision, Cox traveled out of state to receive an abortion and adequate care.
“No one should be forced to fight in court and leave their home state just to receive the health care they need,” the attorneys’ general statement read.
“As this case shows, abortion bans pose dangerous health and safety threats wherever they are enacted. Decisions about abortion care should be made between patients and their doctors, not politicians. We will continue to fight to ensure everyone has the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions.”
In June 2022, the United State Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, authorizing the right to abortions nationwide. Since then, Minnesota has seen a rise in patients seeking abortion care, as Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law earlier this year, guaranteeing the right to abortion access in the state. Minnesota was the first state in the nation to enact legislation protecting abortion rights following the SCOTUS decision.
The attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Vermont and the District of Columbia also signed on to the condemnation of the Texas court’s decision.
Minnesota physicians say this case is concerning for the health of patients and doctors trying to give them necessary care.
“I’d like to know what their definition of a medical exemption is then, because this seems to be screaming medical exemption,” said Dr. Leslie Jaeger, an OBGYN with Voyage Healthcare and part of the Minnesota American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Board. “I have seen increasing benefits to women as far as health care. And now in the past four to five years, I’ve seen a lot of those benefits and advantages that we have gained being taken back to before I started.”
Dr. Erin Stevens is the legislative chair of the same board and an OBGYN physician at Clinic Sophia.
“I feel sad, I feel angry,” said Stevens. “I feel really frustrated and frankly, scared. There’s so many portions of this case that are very complex, and have big implications on reproductive healthcare throughout the country.”
Stevens says the state has seen a growing number of people out of state seeking abortion care.
“Because we’re surrounded by states that have limitations on abortions,” said Stevens. “We have seen an increase in abortion care from people that are coming from out of state.”
While Stevens said she is thankful for Minnesota’s law protecting abortion, it puts medical providers in a bind, with a lack of physicians to meet the demand.
Stevens said this particular case out of Texas not only highlights issues surrounding patient care, but puts doctors in risk of prosecution.
“The legislation as it stands, is very murky,” said Stevens. “And if you have the Attorney General coming out, and essentially threatening physicians, who’s going to want to provide that care to the patient?”
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The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
