Abortion ruling to speed process for clinics, patients

MINNEAPOLIS — A court ruling that struck down most of Minnesota’s restrictions on abortion as unconstitutional will speed the process for clinics and patients, though providers are still studying all the implications of how the landscape will change as a result.

Two key points of Monday’s ruling are expected to have the most immediate impacts. Judge Thomas Gilligan overturned Minnesota’s mandatory 24-hour waiting period, and a requirement that both parents be notified before a minor can get an abortion. His elimination of a rule that only physicians can perform abortions is expected to further ease access over time.

“The court decision from Monday is great news for abortion access,” said Emily Bisek, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood North Central States. “It gets government and politicians out of the exam room.”

The decision has a broader national importance because Minnesota and Illinois are expected to become the only Midwest states where abortions will be readily available as other states move to restrict access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision last month. That’s already forcing patients to travel long distances for abortions.

Minnesota abortion providers had already been seeing a surge from as far away as Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama even before the high court ruling. They say it’s too early to parse out how much Monday’s decision might accelerate that. But they agree it will greatly help them cope.

“It’s kind of surreal,” said Laurie Casey, executive director of We Health Clinic in Duluth, explaining the sudden drop in all the administrative burdens the clinic had to meet before Monday. The changes mean patients seeking abortions will often be able to get them earlier, she added.

Perhaps the biggest change is that patients no longer need to schedule two appointments with a physician to comply with the 24-hour waiting period, during which clinics had to provide patients with state-mandated information and counseling. One is now enough. And the end of parental notification means fewer delays for minors, who sometimes had to go to court to get an exception.

“It’s all really great from the patient’s perspective, and ours as well,” said Jackie Dilworth, a spokeswoman for the Whole Woman’s Health clinic in Bloomington.

Bisek said Planned Parenthood North Central States — which operates in Minnesota, the…