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Two women have filed a federal lawsuit against Planned Parenthood affiliates, alleging they were pressured into unwanted abortions at Minnesota abortion facilities in 2020 and 2021 and that the abortions violated their constitutional rights.
The 80-page proposed class-action complaint was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. It seeks to represent thousands of women who obtained abortions at the Planned Parenthood abortion centers within the last six years and names Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Planned Parenthood North Central States as defendants.
The women contend that Minnesota does not do enough to ensure that consent for abortion is fully informed and voluntary.
By selling the abortions, the complaint argues, the Planned Parenthood organizations infringed “intrinsic fundamental rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment which protect” a woman’s relationship with her child.
“The pregnant mother has a fundamental intrinsic right to keep and maintain her parental relationship with her child” the complaint states.
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The lawsuit claims the abortions terminated the plaintiffs’ parental rights without adequate safeguards to confirm the decisions were free from coercion.
Pro-life advocates have long argued that abortion providers fail to screen for pressure from partners, family members or financial circumstances, leaving women to live with the consequences of decisions that were not truly their own.
Those claims align with research documenting widespread external pressure and lasting regret.
A 2023 national study found that more than 60 percent of women who had abortions reported high levels of pressure to abort from one or more sources, including male partners, family members, other people, finances or other circumstances.
Women who reported pressure from a partner or family member also reported statistically significant negative emotions, interference with daily life, work or relationships, intrusive thoughts and flashbacks, frequent feelings of loss and grief, and increased stress when discussing the abortion. Those who felt pressured were significantly more likely to blame the abortion for a decline in mental health.
“Abortion clinics cannot claim to be pro-woman while at the same time allowing the majority of their clients to be pressured into unwanted abortions,” said David Reardon, Ph.D., lead author of the study and director of the Elliot Institute. “No woman should ever feel pressured into accepting an unwanted abortion. Clearly, abortion clinics need to provide better pre-abortion screening and counseling in order to prevent unsafe and unwanted abortions.”
Tessa Longbons, a co-author and senior research associate at the Lozier Institute, said the findings show abortion “does not empower women.
Quite the opposite, the abortion industry enables and gives support to those who seek to control women. This coercion can have long-lasting mental health repercussions.”
A peer-reviewed study published in 2025 found that 40 percent of women experience abortion-related grief lasting for decades.
Researchers analyzed responses from 1,925 women in a topic-blind national panel; 409 reported at least one induced abortion. Grief was widespread but rose sharply as the decision became less free and more conflicted. Among women whose abortions were coerced, the risk of prolonged grief disorder was nearly four times higher than among those whose abortions were freely wanted.
Nearly four in 10 women said the worst of their emotional pain was still present an average of 20 years after the pregnancy loss. The study’s author argued that pre-abortion screening should identify women who feel pressured or conflicted because they face far greater risk of long-term psychological harm. “For many women, the loss did not end years ago. It has simply been hidden—until now,” the report stated.
The new Minnesota lawsuit seeks to force accountability for what the plaintiffs describe as a pattern of inadequate consent procedures that leave women without the information or support needed to keep their children. Planned Parenthood had not issued a public response to the filing in the initial reports.
