ST. PAUL — Minnesota Democrats say they will defend abortion access in Minnesota and push for a local Equal Rights Amendment as Republicans introduce legislation supporting pregnancy center funding and life-saving care for babies that survive abortion.
House Republicans, who have a one-seat edge and an acting majority, recently introduced two pieces of anti-abortion legislation: and HF25 establishes a grant program for crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes. HF24 amends Minnesota law to require doctors to save the life of a baby born alive “as a result of an abortion.”
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Supporting Women Act
The Supporting Women Act, or HF25, introduced by Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar, R-Fredenberg Township, would provide $4 million of state funding to pregnancy centers and maternity homes.
“This bill will allow choices for women,” Zeleznikar said in a Feb. 12 press conference. “This will ensure that happens with funding pregnancy resource centers once again, including maternity homes.”
Zeleznikar said the bill was in response to of the Positive Alternatives Grant Program, which passed in a $7.1 billion omnibus health bill that sought to repeal restrictive abortion laws.
Lauren Rhodes, a former patient at Guiding Star Wakota Pregnancy Care Center, told the Health and Finance Policy Committee on Feb. 12 that the center “saved her life.”
“The elimination of the Positive Alternatives Grant devastated places like Wakota that ethically serve women in crisis,” she said.
HF25 says that to be eligible to receive a grant, a pregnancy resource center or maternity home would need to be nonprofit, offer services or referrals to pregnant women or women who recently gave birth, and provide those services free or at a reduced cost.
The bill states that to be eligible, pregnancy resource centers cannot use any grant funds to refer women to organizations that provide abortions or “encourage or counsel women to have an abortion that is not necessary to prevent the woman’s death.”
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According to the language of the bill, women’s pregnancy centers refer to organizations created to provide information, support and encouragement for pregnant women to carry their pregnancies to term. Maternity homes refer to supervised group housing that provides information, referrals and support to women who are pregnant, specifically those who are in crisis, homeless or at risk of homelessness, according to the bill.
Wendy Underwood, deputy commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Health, expressed concern before the Health and Finance Policy Committee on Feb. 12 about allocating funding to these centers, saying they are not regulated under Minnesota law.
“This bill allocates funding towards maternity homes and pregnancy centers that often do not provide evidence-based services, and some centers do not offer fully comprehensive health information to women in accord with the national standards of care by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,” she said. “Pregnancy centers traditionally do not provide prenatal care or prenatal healthcare referrals.”
Born Alive Act
The Born Alive Act, or HF24, introduced by Rep. Krista Knudsen, R-Lake Shore, would require medical professionals to take measures to preserve the life of infants that survive abortion.
“It mandates that these babies are provided medically necessary care to preserve the life and health of these brand new newborn babies,” Knudsen said in a press conference Feb. 12.
The bill states that a baby that is born alive after an attempted abortion would be fully recognized as a human, with immediate protection under the law.
Dr. Erin Stevens, an OB-GYN physician, said before the Health Finance and Policy Committee on Feb. 12 that bills similar to the Born Alive Act are “often well-intentioned but come from unfortunate misinformation.”
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“What these testifiers want you to believe is that a medical situation occurs frequently that does not actually occur,” said Stevens, the legislative chair for the Minnesota section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “That there are nefarious doctors out there aborting healthy term pregnancies, and that throughout that procedure, something goes wrong, it’s a botched abortion, and we end up with a healthy baby that sits on the table and dies without anyone doing anything.”
Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, DFL-Woodbury, said the bill disregards instances where a fetus may have an incurable disease or fatal fetal genetic conditions, where they would be “at the very edges of viability.”
“To focus only on preserving the life, we are disregarding palliative care, and we are disregarding what is happening in that moment with the parents and the child,” she said. “We need to be cognizant that if we just have these simple bills, there’s so much more happening.”
HF24 is headed for the House Floor, while HF25 is headed to the Judiciary and Finance and Civil Law Committee. To successfully get through the House, both bills would need at least one Democrat to vote across the aisle and support the legislation.
Democrats strategizing
One of the ways Minnesota Democrats said they plan to protect abortion during this session is by pushing for an Equal Rights Amendment Act, or ERA.
The bills — sponsored by Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St.Paul, and sponsored by Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton — would enshrine equal rights protection in Minnesota’s Constitution and prohibit discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, sex and more.
The proposed wording for HF501 says that the state cannot discriminate against people for “making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one’s own pregnancy or decision whether to become or remain pregnant.”
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Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, DFL-Eden Prarie, who was the author of the 2023 Protect Reproductive Freedoms Act, commented directly on the anti-abortion bills introduced by House Republicans.
“I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, the government has no place in our personal health care decisions, period,” she said.
Democrat senators and representatives held a press conference Monday, Feb. 17, saying they intend to defend Minnesota’s abortion and reproductive laws on a state level, but they’re also particularly focused on potential action by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The defense that we’re playing is particularly with the federal government,” said Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apply Valley. “We feel very strong about keeping what we have here in Minnesota, but federalism still reigns supreme. We can’t protect Minnesota from a national abortion ban.”
She said DFL members are specifically concerned about potential enforcement of the Comstock Act. The Comstock Act, passed in 1873, prohibits the mailing of “obscene materials,” including anything related to abortion or contraception, across state lines.
Maye Quade said she believes the Comstock Act may cause debate over whether it would be legal in Minnesota to transport abortion medication and tools like speculums that are used both for gynecological care and childbirth.
The Trust Project
