Fact Check: Are Minnesota governors powerless to change abortion access?

(FOX 9) – Republican Scott Jensen has launched his first tv advert within the Minnesota governor’s race as he tries to maneuver previous the abortion subject that has plagued him this summer season.

The advert opens with Jensen holding his latest grandson, who was born in August. Jensen, a household doctor from Chaska, tells viewers that he is delivered 500 infants in his profession. On-screen textual content reveals that the Minnesota Academy of Household Physicians named him the 2016 household doctor of the yr.

Ever since June, when the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade and left abortion entry as much as states, DFL Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic teams have criticized Jensen for his opposition to abortion.

“Abortion is divisive, and Tim Walz is weaponizing the difficulty,” Jensen says within the advert. “In Minnesota, it is a protected constitutional proper, and no governor can change that. And I am not operating to try this.”

This isn’t the entire story.

Whereas Jensen is true that Minnesota governors cannot unilaterally change the state structure, they don’t seem to be powerless on the subject of abortion. And Jensen has beforehand stated on a number of events that he would attempt to prohibit abortion entry if elected.

The state structure

Minnesota’s structure protects a girl’s proper to an abortion underneath a 1995 state Supreme Court docket ruling in Doe v. Gomez. There are two routes to overturn that ruling, and each are tall duties.

One choice is by constitutional modification, which each homes of the state Legislature and voters would want to approve. Governors haven’t any official energy within the poll measure course of.

Second, the state Supreme Court docket may make a distinct ruling in a brand new abortion case. In Minnesota, governors appoint justices.

5 of the seven present justices had been appointed by Democratic governors. Flipping the courtroom would doubtless a number of years as a result of just one Republican-appointed justice — G. Barry Anderson — will hit the necessary retirement age of 70 within the subsequent governor’s time period.

In late June, Walz tried so as to add urgency to the difficulty by saying three justices had been on account of hit the necessary retirement age within the subsequent time period. His marketing campaign later informed The Related Press that Walz had misspoken, and that the governor solely thought it was “possible” that three justices would retire.

Jensen’s previous feedback

In his advert, Jensen adopts a softer tone than he utilized in March, when he was operating for the Republican endorsement. Throughout an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, the interviewer requested Jensen whether or not he would attempt to prohibit abortion or attempt to ban it outright.

“I might attempt to ban abortion,” Jensen stated within the interview. Since then, he has shifted his place and raised exceptions for rape, incest, and to guard the mom’s well being.

Jensen has endorsed efforts from an anti-abortion rights group to cut back abortions in Minnesota. Earlier this yr, he backed the Minnesota Involved Residents for Life’s so-called “incremental strategy” of passing measures that prohibit abortion.

Governors can signal into legislation abortion restrictions that the Legislature passes.

In 2003, then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a 24-hour ready interval that Republican lawmakers had permitted. The legislation stood for 19 years earlier than a Ramsey County decide dominated it unconstitutional this summer season.

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• True: correct info that requires little or no further context
• Wants clarification: largely correct info that leaves out context that might be useful to voters
• Not the entire story: the data introduced leaves out a major quantity of context that would lead voters to a distinct conclusion
• Deceptive: partial info introduced in a approach that misleads voters
• False: inaccurate info, or info introduced out of context