Suitcase shows neighbor becoming abortion hub

Not long ago, some prolife friends praying on the sidewalk for abortion-minded and post-abortive women noticed, toward the end of the day, Red River Women’s Clinic Director Tammi Krommenaker emerging from the building toting a suitcase. It was a strange thing to see, but the reason soon became clear.

The following day, it was announced in the news that Krommenaker had been invited to be a guest of Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., for President Biden’s State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. In a Forum article, Krommenaker said about 70 percent of the patients “served” by the Moorhead clinic come from North Dakota. They’ve also seen clients from further away, including Texas and Nebraska.

Those of us praying for an end to abortion in North Dakota had plenty of reason to celebrate when Roe vs. Wade was overturned, and our local abortion clinic hit the road. But it was naïve to think North Dakota would be off the hook.

Far from it. As I’ve mentioned here before, little changed in the Red River Valley after that decision, except that the ghastly business of abortion moved from downtown Fargo, where it was highly visible, to a dead-end street off Highway 75 in north Moorhead, just several miles to the east of its former digs.

In fact, Moorhead now seems to fancy itself a hub for this sorrowful activity. Earlier, the city honored the director with a humanitarian award. Framing its deadly work as “healthcare,” the facility is championing their welcoming of North Dakota’s abortion traffic into their corner of Minnesota, along with an embrace of South Dakota’s, and beyond.
According to Krommenaker, as noted in the newspaper, the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade has confused many women who live in states without abortion access and don’t know where to turn for their abortions. “They are generally worried about being tracked, or someone finding out, or someone having access to their records. And that shouldn’t be the top concern when you’re seeking healthcare.”
A friend of mine seeing the article responded with dismay. “When I flew to Kentucky to find the best surgeon for my problem over a decade ago, I didn’t care if I could be tracked, because I was getting legitimate healthcare.” Come to think of it, I’ve never looked over my shoulder on the way to the dentist, either, nor do people picket outside my eye doctor’s office. There’s a reason.

The same week of Krommenaker’s V.I.P. adventure out of state, a related headline concerning Minnesota and abortion appeared in the Fargo Forum: “GOP wants to fund anti-abortion pregnancy centers in state; DFLers say that won’t happen.”
In the first paragraph, the reporter noted a Republican-initiated bill to bring back funding for crisis pregnancy centers, adding that these centers are “controversial clinics aligned with the anti-abortion movement,” stating that Republican backers of the bill hope to counter “the push in Minnesota to widen health care access, including abortion.”

Money for crisis-pregnancy facilities in Minnesota was repealed last year by the Minnesota legislature, which shifted grants set aside for these centers to “sexual and reproductive health,” involving a transfer of millions of dollars. In other words, money that had been being funneled, for 20 years, to offer life-saving options for women in Minnesota is now being used to help end the lives of Minnesota’s youngest, most discounted citizens.

The bill’s chief author, Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar, R-Fredenberg Township, said centers providing abortion already have funding and women should have access to assistance if they decide not to have an abortion.
From there, the article went back and forth with information for or against abortion access and the clinics that offer alternatives, but the final word was given to Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison, who supports widening abortion funding.

Ellison was quoted as having said at a rally last month that “America is in the middle of a backlash against progressive policies, and if you want to keep the rights you fought for, and get some back, we’ve got to organize, we’ve got to show up, we’ve got to stick together, and we’ve got to fight that.”

Minnesota is our closest neighbor, and whatever affects their citizens ultimately affects North Dakota’s. We need to do what Ellison recommended to save the lives of not just Minnesota’s youngest citizens, but our own: organize, show up, and stick together. Consider this a rallying cry to pray about ways you might help tend to the least of these.
“But those with insight shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament. And those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever” (Dan. 12:3).