Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is under fire for misrepresenting the scope of the abortion bill he signed into law, which allows for abortions up until birth, sparking intense debate over the state's sweeping reproductive rights legislation.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is facing backlash after misrepresenting a direct question about the abortion legislation he signed into law in 2023, which allows for abortions up until birth. During an interview with CBS News’s Norah O'Donnell, Walz denied that the law he passed permits late-term abortions, saying, "That’s not what the bill says," and claimed he merely "restored Roe v. Wade." However, critics and fact-checkers have pointed out that Minnesota’s Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, which Walz signed, places no gestational limits on abortion, effectively legalizing the procedure throughout pregnancy.
The PRO Act explicitly grants every individual the "fundamental right to make autonomous decisions" about reproductive health, including abortion, without restrictions based on gestational age. Prior to this law, abortion in Minnesota was legal through the second trimester, but the PRO Act makes Minnesota one of the most permissive states for abortion in the nation, joining a small group of states and Washington, D.C., with no limits on abortion up until birth.
The bill's lack of restrictions has drawn criticism from pro-life groups like Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), whose co-executive director, Cathy Blaeser, described the law as "extreme, inhumane, and harmful to women and children." Blaeser argued that the PRO Act allows for abortions at any stage of pregnancy, including late-term abortions when a baby can feel pain and potentially survive outside the womb.
While left-leaning media outlets often downplay the occurrence of late-term abortions, recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute shows that thousands of abortions occur after 21 weeks each year in the U.S. Though these represent a small percentage of the total number of abortions, they are significant, especially given the contentious debate surrounding abortion in the final months of pregnancy.
Walz’s misrepresentation of the issue during the CBS interview has fueled further controversy, as his opponents argue that the governor is intentionally downplaying the impact of the law. As the abortion debate intensifies across the country following the overturning of *Roe v. Wade*, Minnesota's permissive stance has become a focal point for both sides of the issue.
.png)