Abortion rights bill awaits vote in MN Senate after clearing final committee

A bill that would put abortion rights into Minnesota law is headed for a vote in the full Senate, after reserved but emotional testimony and debate in its final committee this afternoon (Wed).  61-year Melody Olson told lawmakers her parents made the decision to enter a clinic and allow a doctor to end the pregnancy:  “But as my grandmother many years later when she revealed this family secret said, ‘Well, it didn’t work, ’cause here you are.’  Yes, I survived an attempted abortion,”  Olson testified.  Retired state Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson says the country was founded on the idea that the United States is a secular nation, but even religions have different views of when life begins.   Anderson says some believe at conception, but in the Jewish view “the soul and the human being is there when the left shoulder emerges from the womb.”  A vote in the full Senate might come next week.  The Minnesota House votes on the bill tomorrow night (Thurs).