Minnesota Abortions Jump 16% After Tim Walz Signed Law for Abortions Up to Birth

A new report shows abortions in Minnesota have jumped almost 16% after radically pro-abortion Governor Tim Walz signed a bill in January 2023 for abortions up to birth.

Walz signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act to enshrine in state statute a “fundamental right” to abortion without limits or safeguards. The measure he signed allowed abortion on demand even late in pregnancy when unborn babies are viable and can feel excruciating pain. The bill also would also deny parents the right to know if their minor daughter is seeking an abortion.

Now, a new report issued by the Lozier Institute shows abortions increasing 15.8% as a result — with thousands more babies dying.

In 2023, there were 14,124 abortions reported in Minnesota, an increase of 16% from 2022 when there were 12,193 abortions. Drug-induced abortions made up 65% of the total, increasing by 24% from 7,391 in 2022 to 9,146 in 2023. CLI estimates that Minnesota’s abortion rate increased by 16% from 2022 to 12.8 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 (Fig. 2).¹ As of February 2025, 28 states have released 2023 abortion statistics, with 15 states indicating that abortions had increased from the prior year.

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Thirty-eight percent of the abortions reported in 2023 were performed on women who had previously had an abortion. Twenty-two percent were obtained by women with one previous abortion, and 16% by women with more than one prior abortion. Forty-five percent of Minnesota abortions were performed on women with no previous live births and 62% on women with no previous abortions. Twenty percent were obtained by women who had previously suffered a miscarriage.

A majority of the abortions reported in Minnesota, 65%, were drug-induced. Most of the drug-induced abortions were induced using mifepristone (64.6% of all abortions reported in Minnesota), while 0.2% were induced using misoprostol as the principal drug. There were seven “other” drug-induced abortions, a category that includes late-term induction abortions. Thirty percent were performed via suction curettage and 5% were dilation and evaluation procedures. There was one abortion performed via some other type of surgical procedure, one performed via intrauterine instillation, and three performed via an unknown method.

During the House and Senate floor debates, bare majorities rejected dozens of amendments that would have made the bill Walz signed less extreme.

The defeated amendments included ones to protect unborn children in the third trimester (with exceptions), to protect against the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion, to provide the option of anesthesia when unborn children can feel pain, and to protect women’s health by requiring that third-trimester abortions take place in a hospital and that abortion facilities be licensed by the state.