Induced abortion in Minnesota

The 1998 session of the Minnesota Legislature amended Minnesota’s abortion reporting requirement to include all physicians licensed and practicing in Minnesota who perform abortions and all Minnesota facilities in which abortions are performed (Minn. Stat. § 145.4131-134.4136).  A reporting form must be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) for each procedure.

In Minnesota, choosing to have an abortion is a right protected by the Minnesota constitution. You can find additional information at The Minnesota constitution and abortion.

The Woman’s Right to Know Act, enacted in 2004 and amended in 2006, requires that at least 24 hours prior to the procedure information must be provided to each patient about medical risks, about the availability of medical and other public assistance and the availability of materials about fetal development. A reporting form must be submitted for each instance of providing this information. These materials and additional information can be found at Woman’s Right to Know Act.

Additionally, any physician or facility encountering a complication resulting from an induced abortion must submit a reporting form to MDH.

Abortion reporting system

From the inception of abortion reporting through the 2016 reporting year reporting has been done on paper forms which were mailed to MDH for data entry. In March of 2017, a system upgrade has been deployed which allows for secure web-based reporting. Facilities and clinics submitting many reporting forms per year are expected to use this system. Individual physicians or facilities reporting few procedures per year or reporting only post-procedure complications may choose to use the web-based system or continue to submit paper forms.

You can find information about the reporting system and links to the reporting forms at Abortion reporting system.

Annual reports to the legislature

MDH publishes a report to the Minnesota Legislature on the previous year’s abortions by July 1 each year.

View or download these reports at: Reports to the legislature: Induced abortions in Minnesota.