State Constitutional Protection
The Minnesota Constitution protects the right to choose as a fundamental right and to a greater extent than the U.S. Constitution. The Minnesota Supreme Court held that a law limiting state medical assistance for abortion to cases of life endangerment and reported rape and incest was unconstitutional under the state constitutional right to privacy because it prohibited reimbursement for medically necessary abortion services while providing funding for health-care services necessary to carry a pregnancy to term. Women of Minn. v. Gomez, 542 N.W.2d 17 (Minn. 1995). A similar restriction has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court under the U.S. Constitution. Williams v. Zbaraz, 448 U.S. 358 (1980).
