ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota lawmakers were poised Monday to debate the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment from DFL lawmakers that would go on the ballot in 2026.
But the bill was tabled shortly late Monday night after lengthy filibusters by Republicans on other legislation on the day's calendar. House Democrats will make another attempt to pass the bill during Wednesday's session.
If okayed by voters, many of the protections that exist only in state laws would be added to the Minnesota Constitution. Republicans are against the ERA because it would include abortion, sexual orientation and gender expression on the list of protected rights.
ERA supporters turned out in droves Monday at the entrance to the House Chamber, along with a smaller group of opponents, because the bill was on the House schedule.
"Having two years to really talk about what is in here, what does it do that's different from the current state protections? Why does it matter to have it enshrined in our constitution? What does that say about our state?" Kat Rohn, the executive director of OutFront Minnesota, told KARE 11.
The latest version of the ERA bill would bar discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, or sex. Sex, as described in the bill, includes, "making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one's own pregnancy or decisions whether to become or remain pregnant, gender identity or gender expression, or sexual orientation."
Rohn said those rights are for the most part already protected in state statutes, but those laws can be changed in the future. It’s more difficult to change the constitution.
"When power changes, when folks come in with different agendas, there's always a chance those laws are not enough, and so enshrining protections in the constitution give you that solidity, stability, so that 30-years of protections we have becomes part of the permanent landscape of who Minnesota is as a state."
RELATED: Minnesota legislators consider constitutional amendment to protect abortion and LGBTQ rights
Much of the opposition comes from abortion rights opponents. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has already heavily advertised on TV and radio against the ERA.
"This is not your grandmother's ERA," Rep. Marion Rarick, a Maple Lake Republican, told capitol reporters at a press conference organized by the MCCL.
"This ERA bill enshrines abortion up to the moment of birth in our state constitution, and it doesn't even use the word 'abortion' in the language on the ballot!"
It's true that the ballot question voters will see says "including pregnancy" but not the specific word "abortion" in the current legislation.
"This is the wool being pulled over people's eyes. This is not transparent. It did not go to all the committees it needed to go to," Rep. Rarick added.
DFL House Majority leader Jamie Long says voters will know what's at stake.
"You never put the entirety of the language of a ballot initiative before the voters. It doesn't fit on a ballot," Rep. Long explained.
"The word 'pregnancy' is very clear what we're talking about. I don't think any voter will have any doubt in mind that the amendment they're voting on is going to be enshrining reproductive rights in the Constitution. If we get this on the ballot, millions of dollars will be spent on both sides of the issue so there won’t be any confusion."
House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring disagreed, saying that the "pregnancy" language in the ballot question is too vague for voters to know that it refers to abortion rights. She said this version of the ERA won't gain Republican support.
"Republicans believe in equality. This bill doesn’t provide that," Demuth said in a statement to the media Monday night.
"This bill guarantees equality to a few groups, while leaving out protections against religious and age discrimination."
The MCCL issue ads have played up the phrase "abortion up to the moment of birth" as if that would be something new to Minnesota. In reality, it's currently the law in Minnesota, since the passage of the Protect Reproduction Options Act, or PRO Act in 2023.
But, according to the Minnesota Department of Health's Induced Abortion Report, third-trimester abortions are extremely rare in this state. In 2022, there was one third trimester abortion out of more than 12,000 in the state. That year 147 abortions came after week 22.
Some clergy have also raised concerns that the ERA bill doesn't include a provision barring discrimination based on religion.
"This amendment pits the constitutional guarantee of all Minnesotans to be able to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience against these newly defined, so-called rights of pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation," Rev. Steven Lee of The North Church told reporters at a capitol press conference.
"This amendment tramples the ability of faith communities to live out their faith by demanding conformity to the so-called rights of the pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ agenda."
Rep. Long said the state constitution already protects religious freedom in Minnesota, and the ERA wouldn’t do anything to diminish that.
"Religion is specifically protected in the state constitution and at the same level we would be protecting in the Equal Rights Amendment. So, we are bringing up protections for other classes of individuals – race, gender, etcetera, to the same level of protection religion now enjoys."
The ERA was one of five bills Democrats had hoped to pass in Monday's session, but only two got to final votes before lawmakers left for the night. The conference committee report on the junk fees bill took up seven and a half hours, while lawmakers spent three and a half hours on the elections bill.
The Senate passed the bill last session, so it's still technically alive as part of the biennial session. But it's far more likely the Senate would vote on the House version rather than trying to merge the two bills into one version in a conference committee.
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