With The Legislature Changing Parties, What’s Next For Minnesota

In a state that usually considers itself to be progressive, what comes next for reproductive health when both the House and Senate go under Republican control, and the GOP governor could stay on?

It was a result no one really saw coming.  Everyone in the state of Minnesota, once known for its progressive ideals, was so busy focusing on a heated three-way race for governor that somehow we lost track of the legislative races.  By the end of the night, the nightmare scenario had become a reality for Minnesota’s Democrats: the Republicans had ousted the DFL (Democrat Farmer Laborer) majority from control of the state House and Senate.

Those of us in the reproductive health community thought we had seen the worst outcome possible.  Our best case scenario would have been adding a Democratic Governor to our currently-held majority under whose leadership we could roll back some of the more onerous pieces of anti-choice legislation passed in the eight years of Governor Tim Pawlenty’s reign: the 24 hour waiting period, a “Women’s Right to Know,” the “Positive Alternatives Act” that seems to be little more than a chance to launder taxpayer dollars and give them to anti-abortion outlets, even his rejection of federal comprehensive sex ed dollars in exchange for matching abstinence only education.

But as much as we hoped, we knew realistically that this election could be the end of a pro-choice majority in Minnesota, with the margin between pro- and anti-choice politicians already razor thin going into the cycle.

What no one expected was to lose both sides of the legislature to full Republican control, and it immediately brought to mind the types of legislation we can expect to be introduced next year: a reinvigorated attempt to end taxpayer funded abortions through Minnesota’s Medicaid program, plans to defund Planned Parenthood, probably even plans for mandatory ultrasounds before all abortions, such as the ones in Oklahoma and Florida, or even a bill to ban all abortions in the state should Roe V. Wade ever get overturned.

Then there are the potential ballot amendments they could begin to concoct, from overturning Doe V. Gomez (the Minnesota ruling stating poor women should always have access to abortions) all the way to a potential Personhood amendment like Colorado faced this year.  The 2012 election will be a chance for the Republicans to try and unseat Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, and good strong conservative ballot initiatives like those, or a straight marriage amendment, would be good fodder for getting out the base to vote.

Luckily, we realized that with a pro-choice Governor in power, the onslaught of anti-choice bills could at least be held at bay with incessant vetoing of the legislation.

Then all of the votes came in.

Once more, Minnesota has had an election so close that the margin of difference has triggered an automatic recount.  Unlike the infamous 2008 Franken/Coleman recount, the margin of difference between Democrat Mark Dayton and his Republican challenger Tom Emmer is far too large to be covered by reexamining all ballots and making sure none of the rejected absentee ballots were wrongly rejected. (On election day, before the canvassing board met to verify numbers, only 725 votes separated the two senate candidates, and only 215 seperated them once all of the numbers were verified.   Currently, Dayton has a nearly 9000 vote lead, and there are only 3000 absentee ballots rejected on this go around.)

But according to the Minnesota state statutes, as long as no governor has been officially reelected, the current governor stays in his position.  And for a party that has just taken over the House and Senate, that is an opportunity that cannot be passed up.

The 2008 recount lasted eight months from first canvassing to final court challenge.  For the Minnesota GOP, even two or three months is enough to get a lot of their agenda through.  At the beginning of January, the Governor can exercise the right to reject federal funding for healthcare, a chance that budding presidential candidate Pawlenty just won’t be able to pass up.  When the legislature officially starts meeting in mid-January they can pass numerous bills quickly to send to the governor for signature, many of which would likely be the anti-choice bills likely to please both conservative state constituents and, more importantly for Pawlenty, the primary support he needs to win the presidency.

Minnesotans are already looking at an anti-choice majority that can roll back most of the reproductive rights we still have left in this state.  Should the GOP decide to take advantage of the recount process and draw it out, it looks like we could be facing a total coup as well.