Once upon a time, parts of Minnesota were covered by millions of acres of tallgrass prairie. As child I was told the grass could be as tall as a rider on a horse, and the roots were even longer.
Nonetheless, we doubt those grassroots ever reached from Prinsburg in Kandiyohi County to Moorhead, 185 miles on the shortest route in the map above.
It's a good thing retiring Minnesota state representative Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, realized that natural history. In the Fargo Forum, Melissa Van Der Stad reports in Anti-abortion group holds rally near Red River Women's Clinic in Moorhead:
“I’m not from Moorhead. In the end I am here to give leadership, to assist, but in the end this is meant to be a grassroots effort, a community effort, to say that we don’t want (abortion) in our community.” Miller said.
The guest speaker Friday was David Berit, founder and CEO of 40 Days for Life, who flew in from Washington D.C.
According to its website, 40 Days for Life is an organization that aims to end abortion through prayer and fasting, community outreach and a peaceful all-day vigil in front of abortion businesses [sic].
That's a start, though the article begins with another non-grassrooty marker for Miller's employer:
An anti-abortion group held an event just across the street from the Red River Women's Clinic at its new Moorhead location on Friday, Aug. 19.
The event was hosted by Pro-Life Action Ministries, or PLAM Action, an anti-abortion group based out of St. Paul.
Minnesota state Rep. Tim Miller and executive director of PLAM Action said that the group's primary work is, "the sidewalk counseling outside of abortion clinics in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester.”
There were roughly 120 people gathered under a large tent Friday night, set up on the lawn of local Moorhead business CB & Sons Electric.
Bluestem had reported in February, Retiring Rep. Tim Miller will work for Brian Gibson at Pro-Life Action Ministries sister group. According to Gibson's LinkedIn profile, he serves as Executive Director of Pro-Life Action Ministries.
On August 2, Nick Broadway reported for the Forum in Coalition aims to hinder Red River Women's Clinic's move to Moorhead:
With a recent court battle adding time to the clock, the North Dakota trigger ban on abortion will take hold in 24 days. Anyone seeking abortion care after those 24 days will have to cross state lines into Moorhead, where the Red River Women's Clinic plans to move from its downtown Fargo location.
PLAM Action, a newly formed opposition group which stands for Pro-Life Action Ministries, is publicly pledging to keep the clinic from opening in Moorhead.
Minnesota state representative Tim Miller, a Republican, is one of the people in charge of PLAM Action. He said their options are limited.
"We did investigate to see if we had any sort of legal pathway to stop them," he explained. "We don't."
"Minnesota is becoming an abortion destination for other states, and Moorhead is going to be the tip of that spear," Miller said.
When WDAY News last spoke with Red River Women's Clinic Director Tammi Kromenaker, she said they're not saying where the new clinic will be relocated to ahead of moving — an effort to keep the place safe.
Kromenaker said in response to the opposition group that they are used to, "bullies trying to harass and intimidate" them and their patients, adding they are doing what they can to ensure safety and security at the new site.
Supporters of the Red River Women's Clinic are just shy of raising $1 million on GoFundMe , 39 days after their fundraiser started. Kromenaker has said in the past this money will help them move to Moorhead, make improvements to the new site and install more security features. . . .
To get an idea of the financial resources behind PLAM, check out its 990 filings to the IRS at ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. The latest 990 on file is for the year ending June 2021.
Meanwhile in North Dakota, James MacPherson and David Kolpack report for the Associated Press in Lawyers argue to delay North Dakota law banning abortion:
Lawyers for North Dakota’s only abortion clinic asked a judge Friday to delay a trigger law set to ban abortion starting next week, while they pursue a lawsuit challenging the ban on constitutional grounds.
The abortion ban is set to go into effect on Aug. 26. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo is seeking a preliminary injunction as part of a lawsuit that says the ban violates the state constitution.
Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick said he would make a decision on the motion by the end of next week. He did not say how they would proceed with the lawsuit.
Romanick put the trigger ban on hold last month when he ruled that Attorney General Drew Wrigley was premature in setting a July 28 closing date. The judge issued a temporary restraining order that in effect gave the Fargo clinic time to transition to a new location in nearby Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal, even as it seeks to block the ban.
The clinic has been offering services at the new location for the past two weeks.
The clinic’s lawsuit argues that the state constitution’s guarantees of rights to life, liberty, safety and happiness effectively guarantee a right to abortion. Lauren Bernstein, an attorney for the clinic, said the ban would not only violate the constitution, it would remove 50 years of abortion access in the state.
We're curious how the PLAM Action tent might rally women voters in both Moorhead and North Dakota.
UPDATE: In an August 2 Business Insider article, The Kansas abortion victory shatters a losing streak for reproductive rights in the ballot box that goes back years in red states, Madison Hall noted:
The last time abortion rights emerged victorious at the ballot box in a Republican-leaning state was in North Dakota in 2014, four election cycles ago. That streak was broken on Tuesday night in Kansas when voters overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have eliminated a right to abortion from the state constitution.
What did North Dakota voters reject? In 2014 Politico's Rachana Pradhan and Jennifer Haberkorn reported in Personhood movement loses twice:
The anti-abortion personhood movement failed key tests Tuesday in North Dakota and Colorado, with voters rejecting amendments to grant the unborn constitutional rights.
In North Dakota — a strongly anti-abortion state considered the personhood movement’s best chance of victory — the proposed ballot measure would have amended the state constitution to say the “inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and protected.” The Associated Press reported that with 91 percent of precincts reporting, it was losing by about a 2 to 1 margin.
Personhood supporters had hoped a victory in North Dakota would give the movement its first win and galvanize other states to act. Opponents of the measure — Measure 1 — warned that the new language could restrict access to abortion even before viability, criminalize in-vitro fertilization or limit end-of-life treatment choices. Planned Parenthood, which backed the opponents, poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. The Catholic bishops did the same for the supporters.
In a statement on the North Dakota results, Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup said, “The voters have sent a loud and clear message: Women know what’s best for their lives, their health, and their futures. It’s time for North Dakota politicians to remember that message when they return to the capital for a new session in January.” . . .
[End update]
Screengrab: Heckova commute for a grassroots effort.
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