Tag Archives: ZZ: Walker v. Jesson

Life News: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys filed an appeal Monday on behalf of two African-American taxpayers in Minnesota who are challenging the unauthorized use of state funding for elective abortions. In May, a trial judge dismissed the lawsuit. “The critical taxpayer dollars of Minnesotans should not be used for medically unnecessary abortions, nor should such funding be used to take the lives of more African-American babies than other babies,” said lead counsel Chuck Shreffler, one of more than 2,200 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom. “The Minnesota Supreme Court was clear in ruling that taxpayers should not be stuck with the bill for abortions ‘on demand.’”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys filed an appeal Monday on behalf of two African-American taxpayers in Minnesota who are challenging the unauthorized use of state funding for elective abortions. In May, a trial judge dismissed the lawsuit.

AP on KSFY.com: A conservative legal group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, claimed when it filed the lawsuit last November that the state Department of Human Services is paying for abortions that aren’t medically necessary, without the legal authority to do so.

InForum: A conservative legal group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, claimed when it filed the lawsuit last November that the state Department of Human Services is paying for abortions that aren’t medically necessary, without the legal authority to do so.

LifeNews: Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit on the Walkers’ behalf, and they still have the prerogative to appeal the decision. Rikelman said she believes it’s likely they will. As a group with a mission to make all abortion illegal, “it seems hard to imagine that they will give up so quickly,” she said.

The Raw Story: The anti-choice group Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit on the Walkers’ behalf, and they still have the prerogative to appeal the decision. Rikelman said she believes it’s likely they will. As a group with a mission to make all abortion illegal, “it seems hard to imagine that they will give up so quickly,” she said.

Jordan Lorence on The Jason Lewis Show to discuss this: Minn. Taxpayers Illegitimately Charged For Elective Abortion. | MP3 audio 34:23 mins

TiwnCities.com (AP): The conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit late last month, claiming the state pays for abortions that aren’t really medically necessary, without the legal authority to do so, and without a meaningful review of whether these abortions really qualify as therapeutic.

Reality Check: Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit on behalf of the Walkers, a pair of anti-choice activists who are claiming not only are the taxpayers of Minnesota being forced to pay for abortions for poor women against their will but that those abortions are an act of eugenics on the African American community. The suit ignores the fact that in Doe v. Gomez, Minnesota established that the right to an abortion is a civil right and that as long as the state pays for services related to pregnancy though Medicaid it must also pay to terminate pregnancies, too.

One News Now: “The reporting statistics don’t lie. The state is indisputably funding medically unnecessary abortions in violation of state law,” Aden reports. “40 percent of these abortions are being executed on African-Americans, even though they make up only five percent of the state’s population. This lawsuit intends to stop this from continuing.”

Steve Aden appeared on the The Flag with Scott Hennen to discuss this: Minn. taxpayers illegitimately charged for elective abortions. | MP3 audio 7:05 mins

Minneapolis Star Tribune: In a lawsuit filed this week, the Alliance Defending Freedom said an analysis of abortions paid for by the state’s Medicaid program found that barely one in four gave a reason of medical necessity, even though the state is permitted to use taxpayer funds only for therapeutic abortions.
Chuck Shreffler, a Minneapolis lawyer working with the alliance, said the state’s own reports show that Medicaid paid for more than 47,000 abortions between 1999 and 2011, and that medical reasons were cited in only 10,044 instances. “It looks like a significant number of these abortions are actually elective abortions,” he said, in spite of state law forbidding the use of public funds in such cases.

Crookston Times: Steven Aden, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the numbers cited in the lawsuit represent the “best assessment” the group could make based on the statistics available. He said a fuller picture of the “illegitimate public funding of elective abortions” will emerge as the case proceeds. Minnesota spends about $1.5 million annually on abortions for indigent women, the lawsuit says. “It’s a gross abuse of taxpayer dollars in the state of Minnesota and an unfortunate tragedy as well,” Aden said.

Robin Marty at RHReality Check: Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense League) have filed a suit alleging that Minnesota has wrongfuly paid for as many as 37,000 abortions since the year 1999 that should not have been covered. According to their press release . . .

San Francisco Chronicle (AP): The Alliance Defending Freedom argues that state government is allowed to pay for abortions for indigent women only for “therapeutic reasons,” including when the life or health of the woman is in danger or in cases of rape or incest, under state laws and a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision . . . Steven Aden, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the numbers cited in the lawsuit represent the “best assessment” the group could make based on the statistics available. He said a fuller picture of the “illegitimate public funding of elective abortions” will emerge as the case proceeds.

LifeNews: “The critical taxpayer dollars of Minnesotans should not be used for medically unnecessary abortions, nor should such funding be used to take the lives of more African-American babies than other babies,” said lead counsel Chuck Shreffler, one of nearly 2,200 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom. “The reporting statistics are unambiguous,” added Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden, who is co-counsel in the case. “The state is indisputably funding medically unnecessary abortions in violation of state law, and 40 percent of the abortions are being executed on African-Americans even though they make up only 5 percent of the state’s population. This lawsuit intends to stop this from continuing.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys filed suit Tuesday on behalf of two African-American taxpayers in Minnesota who are challenging the unauthorized use of state funding for elective abortions.