ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota's largest abortion opposition group is spending more than $1 million in an effort to derail the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and keep it off the 2026 ballot.
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the MCCL, contends that most Minnesotans aren't aware of what state law allows already when it comes to abortion rights. The group's opposed to the ERA, because it would make those rights more permanent by placing them in the state constitution.
"We believe, and we have seen, when Minnesotans know the truth about what is going on here in Saint Paul in the Legislature they are appalled and activated. And I think our legislators are seeing that and hearing it," Cathy Blaeser, MCCL's co-executive director, told reporters at a State Capitol press conference Thursday.
The ad features a woman telling her friend that current state law contains no limits on when a pregnancy can be terminated.
"The legislature passed a law that allows an unborn baby to be aborted at any time up to birth, even healthy babies with healthy moms," the woman tells her friend, while holding a smart phone with a MinnPost article on display.
"Wow! My pro-choice friends don’t even support that," the friend says in reply.
It's true the Protect Reproductive Options Act, or PRO Act, Democrats passed in 2023 and signed into law by Governor Tim Walz, contains NO restrictions on gestational age for an abortion. But the ad lacks some important context.
For starters, there were no restrictions on gestational age even before the PRO Act became law. Abortion rights in the state were guaranteed prior to that by the Minnesota Supreme Court's 1995 ruling in the case of Doe v. Gomez.
Secondly, the "up to birth" scenario doesn't reflect reality in the state. According to the most recent Minnesota Department of Health annual Induced Abortions Report, there was only one third trimester abortion in the state in 2022 out of 12,090 total.
The PRO Act removed the requirement that physicians attending an abortion must save any viable infant. Supporters of the bill said that language was unnecessary because doctors are sworn to save their patients' lives, and a viable infant becomes a second patient.
The bill that is now pending in the Legislature would put the proposed Equal Rights Amendment on the ballot in 2026. The current wording, which hasn't been finalized, reads as follows.
"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to say that all persons shall be guaranteed equal rights under the laws of the state, and that the state shall not discriminate against any person on account of race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, or sex, including pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, reproductive freedom, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation?"
Megan Peterson, the executive director of Gender Justice, contends those protections should be in the constitution because control of the legislature and the courts can change with political winds.
"Once the Legislature does pass the Equal Rights Amendment we will be out talking to voters, making sure they understand why we need this amendment, how it will be protective in the future for our state against what we’re seeing in our neighboring states happening," Peterson told KARE.
"This is an opportunity for Minnesotans to do the un-Minnesotan thing and say what we want, say what we mean, put it in black and white and take a vote to make sure we’re protected for this generation and generations to come."
Lawmakers could wait until 2026 to put this question on the 2026 ballot, but Democrats feel pressure to pass the bill this year while they still have the DFL trifecta in place. If they were to lose control of the House in November's election, the trifecta would end, and the ERA would be shelved.
The MCCL objects to the focus on the rare third trimester abortion. The group asserts advances in science and medicine have made babies born at 22 weeks viable. The same report showed 71 abortions in 2022 after 22 weeks, out of that 12,091 total.
The organization is also unhappy that the next MDH report on induced abortions won't be released until late fall. The MCCL contends that will show the impact of the PRO Act, but abortion rights supporters say that it will instead show the impact of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
That decision has led hundreds of women from other states to come to Minnesota seeking care.
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