The Minnesota Senate Committee on Health and Family Security rejected a bill that would have required women seeking abortions to review state-mandated materials and wait 24 hours before having the procedure. The bill would have placed onerous restrictions on women’s access to abortion, forcing them to obtain biased information, such as, “when medically accurate,” the risk of infertility or breast cancer. Experts with the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and major universities agree that no link between abortion and breast cancer has been established. In addition, significant medical research shows that abortion does not increase the risk of infertility. The Minnesota Medical Association opposed the anti-abortion measure, saying, “This is not required for any other medical procedure. This is a very dangerous precedent and is simply not necessary”
According to NARAL’s 2001 Who Decides? A State-by-State Review of Abortion and Reproductive Rights, 19 states have mandatory waiting period laws on the books. These laws are enforced in 15 of those states, and have been declared unconstitutional in three. Thirty states have informed consent laws, and last year 2 were been declared unconstitutional.
