Minnesota Senate File 3813 the Omnibus Supplemental Finance Bill does something remarkable -- it shreds the often-overlooked common ground that exists in the abortion debate. What the pro-life and pro-choice folks disagree on is the issue of access to abortion. The former want it banned. The latter want it forever available. The common ground is that majorities of both sides believe that abortion is a bad thing.
SF 3813 includes, among many provisions, a cut in funding for programs that provide positive alternatives to abortion. The bill reduces funding from the current $2.4 million to $1.2 million.
These programs provide women who are pregnant, or have recently given birth to a child, with supportive services that include medical, nutrition, housing, employment and education assistance, and pregnancy, parenting, and adoption counseling. By cutting funding for programs that provide real alternatives to abortion, the cut, in effect, promotes abortion.
The proposed funding cut is certainly not pro-life. It's not even pro-choice since it reduces choices for pregnant women. But the cut is, most assuredly, pro-abortion.
If you believe promoting abortion is bad public policy in Minnesota, then contact your state representative and encourage him or her to amend SF 3813 to restore funding for positive alternatives to abortion to the $2.4 million level.
