Ellison will defend abortion restrictions

ST. PAUL (AP) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he’ll defend state laws restricting abortion against a legal challenge despite his strong personal support for abortion rights.

Ellison told a forum in Fergus Falls last week his job is to defend Minnesota’s laws regardless of his personal opinions.

The Star Tribune reports his comments marked the Democratic attorney general’s most definitive statement on the lawsuit since it was filed last month.

The lawsuit, brought by advocacy groups Gender Justice and the Lawyering Project, seeks to overturn the state’s 24-hour waiting period, two-parent notification requirements for patients under 18, a mandate that fetal remains be buried or cremated, and a requirement that all abortions be performed by a physician

Man who held death party pleads guilty

NEW ULM (AP) — A southwestern Minnesota man who said he threw a “death party” for his wife and gave her methamphetamine has pleaded guilty to criminal neglect.

Fifty-nine-year-old Duane Johnson entered the plea Monday in Brown County Circuit Court. The Free Press says a third-degree murder charge will be dismissed as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Johnson told authorities he held a “death party” for his wife after she begged him to take her home from a nursing home to die.