On Monday, Bluestem reported in Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act hearing is a go in MN House Health Committee Thursday:
A helpful email from the Minnesota House of Representatives DFL Majority communications staff let us know about the PRO Act:
The Minnesota House of Representatives announced today the first public hearing about legislation codifying abortion rights into state law. The House Health Finance and Policy Committee meets Thursday, Jan. 5 at 10:30 a.m. to hear the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, authored by Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (DFL-Eden Prairie).
Here's the Minnesota House Information Services YouTube of the hearing:
Here's a digest of coverage of the hearing. The next stop for the bill in the Minnesota House is the Judiciary and Civil Law Committee at 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, January 10.
Session Daily
For Session Daily, Tessa Pieper reports in Bill to codify right to abortion in Minnesota clears first committee hurdle:
Introduced Wednesday, the top DFL priority got its first approval Thursday.
Sponsored by Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (DFL-Eden Prairie), HF1 would protect health care choices involving the prevention or termination of a pregnancy, as well as managing pregnancy loss or improving maternal health and birth outcomes.
Approved by the House Health Finance and Policy Committee on an 11-8 party-line vote, it was sent to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee.
Reproductive health care, as defined in the so-called “Protect Reproductive Options Act,” includes abortion, maternity and preconception care. Beyond that, contraception, sterilization, family planning, fertility services and counseling in relation to reproductive health care would all receive protection.
The bill also seeks to block interference from local government by prohibiting them from enacting regulations on a person’s right to make autonomous decisions on their own reproductive health.
Although Roe v. Wade was overturned last year by the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion remains legal in Minnesota because of a state court decision in Doe v. Gomez, which also ensured abortion coverage for low-income women who receive state assistance.
The proposed act would codify reproductive rights in state law, essentially ensuring that even if the Doe v. Gomez decision is overturned, access to abortion and other reproductive health care would remain protected.
“What happened to Roe can happen to Minnesota, too,” Kotyza-Witthuhn said. “Over mere months, 15 states have banned abortion. This past election voters voted decisively and told us they believe every Minnesotan should be able to make their own reproductive decisions.”
Men, women, doctors, attorneys, pro-lifers and those that are pro-choice offered brief testimony for and against the bill.
“Minnesotans deserve to make their own health care decisions based on science and experts, not politicians,” said Dr. Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States.
But several opponents of the bill demanded defense of the unborn.
Ben Dorr, executive director of Minnesota Right to Life, quoted the bible and said that the pro-life community would never forget this vote.
Other opponents said they believe human life begins at conception, adding that it is anti-woman to ignore post-abortion trauma and that abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.
Republican legislators unsuccessfully offered three amendments, all of which failed along party lines.
Rep. Bernie Perryman (R-St. Augusta) offered one of those, which would have required second and third trimester abortions to be conducted in a hospital. The violation would be a felony.
Perryman said her amendment was “created in concern for the woman and the safety of the woman.”
An amendment offered by Rep. Debra Kiel (R-Crookston) would ban partial-birth abortions.
“Abortions later in pregnancy are extremely rare and are almost exclusively done for reasons of maternal health or a severe fetal diagnosis,” Kotyza-Witthuhn countered.
“If a person is in labor, they could not and would not have an abortion,” she said. “It is just not how labor and delivery or abortion care works.”
Limiting abortions to the first and second trimesters while still allowing abortion under circumstances of rape, incest, or life of the mother was the intent of an amendment offered by Rep. Anne Neu Brindley (R-North Branch).
“It seems the least restrictive we could do to this bill to ensure some humanity when we’re discussing this very difficult issue,” she said.
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune's Briana Bierschbach reports in Minnesota Democrats move quickly to codify abortion access in state law":
A fast-tracked proposal to enshrine access to abortion into Minnesota law cleared its first legislative hurdle on Thursday, signaling newfound urgency on an issue that has been static for years under divided government.
Abortion rights supporters and abortion opponents packed a House hearing and offered more than an hour of emotional testimony on the issue, their first opportunity since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer, sending the issue of abortion access back to individual states.
"What happened to Roe could happen in Minnesota," said Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, DFL-Eden Prairie, the sponsor of the proposal in the House. "Over mere months, 15 states across the country have banned abortion."
Access to abortion is protected in Minnesota through a 1995 state Supreme Court ruling in the case Doe v. Gomez, but there is no law on the books that legalizes the procedure. Democrats, now wielding a trifecta of power in St. Paul, are moving swiftly to enshrine access in state law, arguing that a future set of Minnesota Supreme Court justices could overturn that precedent similarly to Roe.
Opposition also was clear Thursday, when abortion opponents and Republican legislators criticized the proposal as "one of the most extreme" in the country for not including parental notification requirements or restrictions on abortions after a certain point in pregnancy.
"It's abhorrent," said Rep. Anne Neu Brindley, R-North Branch. "The entire civilized world recognizes that some restrictions should take place."
The proposal — dubbed the Protect Reproductive Options Act — defines reproductive health care and states that every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right "to continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right," according to the bill language. . . .
Read the entire article at Session Daily.
Twitter highlight
Bluestem concurs with Minnesota state senator and doctor Kelly Morrison:
Proud of and grateful to House chief author of the Protect Reproductive Options Act, @carlieforhouse & Med Director of @ppnorthcentral Dr Sarah Traxler for a great Health Comm hearing today! #ProtectReproductiveRights #ForAHealthyThrivingMinnesota pic.twitter.com/ZWlUOppSC3
— Kelly Morrison (@Morrison4MN) January 5, 2023
Minnesota Reformer
At the Minnesota Reformer, Grace Deng reports in Right to abortion bill clears first hurdle in Minnesota House:
A bill that explicitly establishes the right to an abortion in Minnesota law cleared its first hurdle on Thursday over Republican objections.
The House Health Finance and Policy Committee passed the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act along a party-line vote after hearing emotional testimony from pro- and anti-abortion advocates.
DFL legislative leaders have made passing legislation to ensure the right to abortion a top priority, labeling it bill number one (HF1) in both chambers.
“This past election, voters spoke decisively. They told us that they believe every Minnesota should be able to make their own reproductive health care decisions,” said the PRO Act’s chief author Rep. Carlie Kotzya-Witthuhn, DFL-Eden Prairie.
Abortion is already legal in Minnesota under a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision that a person’s decision to terminate a pregnancy is protected by the right of privacy. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the federal right to an abortion under Roe v. Wade, however, has revived a nationwide fight by Democrats to codify reproductive freedom into law.
The PRO Act states every person has “a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health” including abortion and contraception. The bill contains just a handful of provisions and doesn’t include any restrictions on when or how abortions must be performed, leaving those decisions to individuals and health care providers.
Republicans offered amendments that would ban abortions late in pregnancy and require abortions in the second and third trimesters to be conducted in hospitals, but those efforts failed to win the necessary support from Democrats.
The push to establish the right to abortion in state law comes as neighboring states have enacted severe restrictions on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe. That’s led to an uptick in patients seeking care in Minnesota.
Planned Parenthood of the North Central States has seen a 13% increase in out-of-state patients and a 40% increase in second-trimester abortions, said the organization’s chief medical officer, Sarah Traxler.
“Minnesota’s abortion access is critical right now, for Minnesotans and for people across the country,” Traxler said.
The PRO Act would ban local governments from restricting reproductive health care and also establishes a right to contraception, sterilization, maternity care and fertility services.
Anti-abortion advocates claimed the bill would increase suicides and be detrimental to mental health, which is not supported by evidence, and expressed concern that the bill would allow minors to receive an abortion without parental consent, which is already legal in Minnesota.
“If you vote for this bill, you vote for a school counselor to be able to take a student to an abortion clinic without her parents ever knowing,” said former state representative Tim Miller, who is now the executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries. “You’ll allow predators and traffickers to cover their tracks.”
Medical experts say requiring parental consent delays medical care and increases teenage birth rates.
The bill has several more committee stops before moving to the House for a full vote. The PRO Act would go into effect as soon as the state Senate passes the bill and Gov. Tim Walz signs it into law.
This article is republished in its entirety online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
MPR News
In Abortion access bill advances as ground shifts on issue at MN Capitol, Dana Ferguson reports for Minnesota Public Radio:
After the Supreme Court last year overturned the federal right to an abortion and left a patchwork of legal abortion options around the country, Minnesota lawmakers are considering cementing the right in state law.
Minnesotans have a constitutional right to abortion under a 1995 state Supreme Court case, but some say that’s not enough.
“I see the reality of people forced to travel out of state for abortion care. 18 states have bans or near total bans on abortion. Minnesota's abortion access is critical right now, for Minnesotans and for people across the country,” said Dr. Sarah Traxler, the chief medical director for Planned Parenthood North Central States.
Traxler told the House Health Finance and Policy Committee that she’s seen a 13 percent increase in patients coming from other states after several outlawed or restricted abortion. And she said even with the court’s ruling, providers and patients face uncertainty. . . .
Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, DFL-Eden Prairie, is the bill’s sponsor. She said the lawmakers should act now to ensure Minnesotans can access abortions and other reproductive health services. . . .
Tim Miller, a former state representative now with the group Pro-Life Action Ministries, said the measure didn’t take into consideration the life and rights of the fetus.
“This bill is not about women's rights over their own bodies,” he said. “This bill pits the mother and the child against each other.”
The bill would also bar local governments from enacting policies that infringe on Minnesotans' reproductive health rights. Miller tried to get the Prinsburg City Council to enact a Texas-style abortion ban, but the council refused to consider it after Attorney General Keith Ellison advised them it would be unconstitutional. . . .
Read or listen to all of Ferguson's report at MPR.
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- StribGuy: Small Minnesota town may become focus of abortion fight 'cause of Tim Miller
- MN News Network: Prinsburg in west-central MN is “launch site” for new anti-abortion strategy
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- We won't have Tim Miller to kick around anymore--at least as a MN House member
Photo: Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham, left, testifies Jan. 5 before the House Health Finance and Policy Committee in support of a bill sponsored by Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, right, that would codify abortion rights. (Photo by Andrew VonBank).
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