ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota’s chief state legal officer, Attorney General Keith Ellison, cautioned the mayor of the tiny village of Prinsburg that an anti-abortion ordinance being considered by the Village Board would illegally deny the rights of Minnesotans to abort a pregnancy. Such an ordinance, Ellison said, would be unconstitutional. “I will do everything within my power to protect Minnesotans’ constitutional rights, including the right to abortion,” Ellison wrote to Mayor Roger Ahrenolz. Ellison asked the mayor for copies pf the ordinance draft. The draft is thought to have been ghost-written by a religious lobby that has shepherded similar provisions elsewhere. The language appears calculated to confront and stymie abortion-protecting legislation in the guise of being authentic local self-determination.
$10,000 for tattling
The proposed Prinsburg ordinance would allow residents to sue others in civil court for receiving an abortion or helping someone else receive an abortion. The ordinance would award $10,000 to the person who sues and zero out their court costs.