Republican candidates celebrated the decision but also said they would rather talk about other issues.
Endorsed GOP candidate for governor Scott Jensen accused Gov. Tim Walz of favoring
“up-to-the-moment-of-birth” abortions.
“I would ask Minnesotans to carefully reflect on that position, along with many other distinctive differences like gas prices, public safety and inflation and choose better leadership that offers positive solutions,” Jensen said in a campaign statement. Walz’s staff did not respond to specific questions about his position, saying only that
state law regulates when abortions are legal and non-medical abortions are not permitted
past around 24 weeks
. A campaign spokesperson said the governor doesn’t support abortion up to the moment of birth and accused Jensen of distracting voters from his position against abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
[image_caption]Scott Jensen[/image_caption]
Endorsed GOP attorney general candidate Jim Schultz issued a similar statement, praising the court decision but saying DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison “will use the decision to distract Minnesotans from the disastrous policies they have enacted”. He cited inflation, gas prices and violent crime.
Walz and Ellison have both taken officials actions to defend access to abortion, both for current residents and those who might travel from states that ban or limit access. Walz signed an
executive order
directing state agencies to not aide other states seeking to prevent or punish those who travel for abortion
.
And Ellison said Friday his office would not only defend those who seek to exercise the right to travel between the states but would follow those who travel to Minnesota back to their home states to defend that right.
“If somebody comes to Minnesota and avails themselves of their constitutional rights and goes back home, I will follow them there and file motions in court if somebody tries to prosecute them for getting an abortion in Minnesota.” Ellison said.
[image_credit]REUTERS/Eric Miller[/image_credit][image_caption]Attorney General Keith Ellison[/image_caption]
A 1995 state supreme court case found that the state constitution’s privacy protections would allow a woman to get an abortion in the state. If anti-abortion Republicans win control of the governor’s mansion and the Legislature, they couldn’t pass laws that would overrule that case. A GOP Legislature could, however, send a constitutional amendment to voters that would ban or limit abortion. Governors have no say in constitutional amendments. And a GOP governor could fill any state supreme court vacancies with judges who might rule differently on future abortion-related cases.
In an article posted Monday on the Center for Politics site at the University of Virginia, Kyle Kondik writes that the underlying fundamentals of the 2022 election favors the GOP. The primary factor is that incumbent president’s party have lost ground in Congress during the first mid-term election in 37 of the past 40 elections. The three times they gained ground was when popular presidents had significant issues in their favor.
While President Joe Biden’s popularity is extremely low, Kondik asks if the abortion issue would be significant in turning voters away to issues the favor Republicans – inflation, gas prices and crime – to one that favors Democrats like abortion.
“As we digest the Supreme Court’s monumental decision on Friday to jettison
Roe vs. Wade
and remove the constitutional right to abortion that the court initially put in place a half century ago, we have to wonder — could this be another extraordinary circumstance that confounds the usual midterm effect?,”
Kondik wrote
.
Kondik summarized the GOP viewpoint like this: “
Roe vs. Wade
going away isn’t going to suddenly make Biden popular, nor is it going to crowd out the very real problems going on in the country that weigh Biden (and Democrats) down.”
But he noted that the first generic ballot poll to be taken post ruling — would you vote for a Democrat or a Republican for Congress — gave Democrats their first advantage in some time, an advantage that did not materialize when the ruling leaked.
“The generic ballot did not really change when the
Dobbs
opinion was leaked back in early May, although that was a hypothetical decision, whereas this is a real one,” he wrote. “We’ll have to see whether this is the start of a new trend, or just a blip.”
Kondik also wrote that when the popular status quo changes, voters tend not to reward the party they think disrupted the status quo.
