The number of taxpayer-funded abortions performed in Minnesota in 2014—3,858—increased from the previous year, with the majority of those abortions occurring in unlicensed clinics.
According to a new report of statistics released by the Minnesota Department of Health on Wednesday, the five remaining abortion clinics across the state performed more than 10,000 abortions.
Despite an increase in the number of abortions, 2014 represented the second smallest annual number of abortions in Minnesota since 1975. While the number of abortions has historically decreased, those paid for with state funding has dramatically increased.
The report showed taxpayer-funded abortions in the state increased almost 40 percent. The highest since the 1995 Supreme Court decision ruling that taxpayers needed to fund abortions.
Of the 10,123 abortions in 2014, 3,858 were covered with public assistance.
"Minnesota’s five major abortion centers are not licensed or inspected by state agencies. This is all the more reason for women to turn away from the destruction of abortion and toward life-affirming alternatives," Minnesota Citizens Concerned For Life Executive Director Scott Fischbach said in a press release.
Licensing legislation that would attempt to regulate health standards for the clinics was approved by state legislators in 2012, but Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the bill.
"There is no good reason for abortion providers to oppose being held to basic health facility standards," Fischbach said. "Their primary concern ought to be for their clients’ health and safety, which would only be enhanced by state licensing and inspection."
More than 12,000 women came in for an abortion in 2014, but a little more than 2,000 decided against it because of information they were given on fetal development and abortion-related risks mandated by the 2003 Women’s Right to Know Law, according to Minnesota Citizens Concerned For Life.