Walz signed a law weakening protections for babies born alive

Minnesota’s 2023 law weakened protections for babies born alive after abortion¹, and lawmakers should restore the prior safeguards and reporting. In his Oct. 11 post on X, Schilling said of the ads: "They don’t work"². He said the campaign was missing an opportunity to attack Tafoya’s opponent over Minnesota’s born-alive law and taxpayer-funded abortion.

The post came a day after AdImpact Politics reported that Michele Tafoya is up with a new Minnesota Senate ad³. Schilling’s post says, “Explaining = losing” and “Offense = attacking.” For Minnesota families, the ground for that offense is what the state's born-alive law now requires, and what it no longer does^{4, 5}.

“They don’t work”

The original post

:::x https://x.com/schilling1776/status/2109234543865778465².

11

What Minnesota changed

Gov. Tim Walz signed the 2023 omnibus law, S.F. 2995, on May 24, 2023. The prior statute required responsible medical personnel to take all reasonable measures "to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant⁵." The new law strikes those words and replaces them with "care for the infant who is born alive¹." LifeNews writer Paul Stark, a Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life staff member, says the bill’s House author, Rep. Tina Liebling, repeatedly described the care as “comfort” care rather than lifesaving care.

The same law repealed the second-physician requirement for abortions after the 20th week, along with the civil action and license-discipline provisions. It also deleted from the required abortion report the item on whether the abortion resulted in a born-alive infant, what was done to preserve its life, and whether it survived¹. The Minnesota Department of Health confirms it: "reporting of these fields is no longer required⁶."

Defenders of the law point out that the amended section still says an infant who is born alive "shall be fully recognized as a human person, and accorded immediate protection under the law¹." They can also point to the Health Department's count of 11 born-alive infants after abortion for 2018 through 2022, none of whom survived⁶. But a recognition clause with no second physician, no civil action and no license penalty behind it protects nothing, and the count that exposed those cases is gone. If the care standard is so harmless, why did Minnesota strike the duty to preserve life and stop counting?

The money side is just as plain: the Minnesota Attorney General's office says public funds for abortion through programs like Medicaid and MinnesotaCare are "no longer limited to instances of rape or incest, or where the pregnant person’s health is in danger⁷."

Restore protections

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life is reported by LifeNews to be backing legislation to restore protections for born-alive infants; parents should ask their lawmakers to support it. A candidate who will not make this a central issue is failing the most vulnerable Minnesotans and the families who expect their tax dollars to protect life, not end it.

Sources

1. Minnesota Session Laws 2023, Regular Session, chapter 70 (Office of the Revisor of Statutes), 2023-05-24
2. @Schilling1776 on X, 2026-10-11: STOP. RUNNING. THESE. RETARDED. ADS. They don’t work and you’re missing an opportunity to show that Peggy supports killing babies with taxpayer money EVEN AFTER BIRTH. Explaining = losing Offense = attacking, 2026-10-11
3. Post
4. Minnesota Statutes 2025, Section 145.423
5. Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 145.423 (Office of the Revisor of Statutes), 2022-12-31
6. MDH, Induced Abortions in Minnesota 2021, 2024-12-31
7. Abortion and Reproductive Health Rights