Abortion
Mr. Walz signed a bill last year that guaranteed Minnesotans a “fundamental right to make autonomous decisions” about reproductive health care on issues such as abortion, contraception and fertility treatments.
Abortion was already protected by a Minnesota Supreme Court decision, but the new law guarded against a future court reversing that precedent as the U.S. Supreme Court did with Roe v. Wade, and Mr. Walz said this year that he was also open to an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would codify abortion rights.
Another bill he signed legally shields patients, and their medical providers, if they receive an abortion in Minnesota after traveling from a state where abortion is banned.
“Abortion is health care,” he said on CNN in March, adding: “I think old white men need to learn how to talk about this a little more. And I think the biggest thing is, listen to women, listen to what they’re saying.”
Immigration
Mr. Walz supports a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. In a 2021 letter to Democratic leaders in Congress, he urged such a path for “Dreamers” brought to the United States as children, for essential workers, for people whose countries are in crisis and for the families of those immigrants.
As a member of Congress years ago, he voted for stricter screening of refugees, but changed his position when he ran for governor.
During his 2022 re-election campaign, he denounced his Republican opponent for saying that accepting immigrants without enough resources threatened “Minnesota’s fabric of life.” Mr. Walz said, “He’s 100 percent wrong morally, and he’s 100 percent wrong economically and culturally.”
He signed a bill last year that made undocumented immigrants eligible for Minnesota driver’s licenses, which he argued would make roads safer by reducing unlicensed driving. He does not have a clear public record on border-security policies …
