Walz’s history on born-alive abortions opens door for Trump, GOP to flip extremism argument

In summer 2022 as Tim Walz was steaming toward reelection as Minnesota governor, his state health agency published a required abortion-statistics report with little fanfare. In it, though, was a secret that is certain to catapult to national prominence now that Walz has been selected to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate.

In Walz’s state and on his watch, five infants were "born alive" in 2021 during failed abortions, and none was provided life-saving care though two got “comfort care,” the Minnesota Department of Health reported on July 1, 2022.

Three other infants were "born alive" during abortions in 2019, Walz’s first year as governor, and they too perished without life-saving care, according to a July 1, 2020 report from the same state agency.

Minnesota was the rare state to require such born-alive abortions to be publicly reported, creating a powerful statistic for pro-life and anti-abortion forces to draw upon.

But in 2023, Walz worked with his new Democrat-controlled Legislature to eliminate both the reporting requirement and the state’s legal obligation for doctors, nurses and medical professionals to administer life-saving care to infants born alive during an abortion procedure. The governor-turned-vice presidential nominee signed an omnibus bill known as SF2995 that closed one of the few statistical windows on late-term abortions and the possibility that babies born alive were left to die.

Of all the veep nominees on Vice President Harris's short list from which she could have chosen, the affable former Army reserve sergeant major and school teacher from Minnesota provided the best opportunity for Donald Trump and his Republican posse to fuel a debate on extremism, experts told Just the News.

Just a few days ago, Walz attended a “White Dudes for Harris” event and made a proclamation likely to offend millions of American immigrants who fled the repression of Marxism, communism and socialism in their homelands.  

“One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness,” Walz said casually in a video clip certain to remain viral through Election Day.

Voters will likely be seeing a lot of this through Election Day.

“One person’s socialism is another person's neighborliness.” Gov. Tim Walz pic.twitter.com/7nBy5jqZCr

— Erin Perrine (@ErinMPerrine) August 6, 2024

Walz also has pushed to eliminate fossil fuels and gas-powered cars from Minnesota, with a goal of being carbon-neutral by 2050, with EVs mostly required by 2035 under a California-style tailpipe emission rule and electricity to be carbon-free by 2040.

He also endured significant criticism for his slow response to the George Floyd riots that devastated Minneapolis in 2020. And he signed a law allowing illegal aliens to get state drivers’ licenses in the midst of one of America’s steepest border crises.

But Walz’s role in making Minnesota one of the most permissive abortion states in the world – abortions can be sought for any reason and at any time – is certain to become a lightning rod in the last 90 days of the campaign, allowing Republicans to flip a script and suggest the Democratic ticket in 2024 is the more extremist when it comes to abortion.

That assault began in earnest on Tuesday just hours after Harris named Walz her running mate.

“Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota signed a law allowing the killing of preborn babies at any stage, even up to birth. Along with Kamala Harris, who made her career out of persecuting pro-life activists, this is the most pro-abortion presidential ticket in American history,” prominent anti-abortion activist Lila Rose wrote on X.

And Minnesota’s rare abortion reporting requirements – now disbanded – will allow conservatives to put front and center an uncomfortable truth for pro-choice advocates: later-term abortions sometimes result in infants being born alive and left to die with just comfort care or no care at all.

The language of Minnesota’s born-alive abortion reports from 2019 through 2023 are as plain and clear as they are likely to be shocking to many Americans unaware that the new Democratic vice presidential nominee presided over a state that allowed eight infants to die without life-saving care on his watch.

The July 2022 report described the five deaths in 2021 this way:

For the calendar year of January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021, 5 abortion procedures resulting in a born-alive infant were reported.

• In one instance, fetal anomalies were reported resulting in death shortly after delivery. No measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.

• In two instances, comfort care measures were provided as planned and the infant did not survive.

• In two instances, the infant was previable. No measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.

The July 2020 report described the three deaths in 2019 this way:

For the calendar year of January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019, three (3) abortion procedures resulting in a born-alive infant were reported.

• In one instance, fetal anomalies were reported but residual cardiac activity was present at 2 minutes. Care of fetus was transferred to the second medical doctor. No measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.

• In one instance, comfort care measures were provided as planned and the infant did not survive.

• In one instance, the infant was previable. No measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.

Minnesota’s permissive abortion laws run contrary to public opinion, especially in second and third trimesters when infants can be born alive in a failed abortion.

Gallup reported in 2023, the same year Walz signed the new abortion law in his state, that majorities of Americans oppose legal abortion in the second (55%) and third (70%) trimesters.

Republican pollster Scott Rasmussen created a messaging platform last year to help Republicans, often portrayed as the extremists when it comes to abortion, to flip the script by focusing on supporting women considering an abortion decision and denouncing abortion up to the moment of birth.

“We've done some research and when you say that most Democrats have supported abortion up to the moment of birth, hardly anybody believes you,” Rasmussen told Just the News earlier this year.

“Only 5% of voters believe that a woman should be able to have an abortion at any time up to the moment of birth with no exceptions and no restrictions. And by the way, on the other side, only 5% are saying that there should be no abortions allowed, you know, regardless of any other restrictions."

Longtime evangelical activist Ralph Reed, who helped fashion the GOP’s pro-life platform for Trump in 2024, said Trump has an unprecedented opportunity to flip the script.

“The real extremists on abortion are the Democrats whose platform calls for abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy, including up to the moment of birth and calls for the creation of a new abortion entitlement under Medicaid that would allow for taxpayer-funded abortion under Medicaid for the first time since Roe v. Wade, and would lead to hundreds of thousands of additional abortions every year,” Reed told Just the News last month. “And when you poll that, about 12% of the electorate supports it. So they're the extremists. They're the radicals. They're out of the mainstream.”