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UnRestrict Minnesota Applauds Passage of the Protect Reproductive Options Act in House Committee

HF 1 represents a vital first step toward fulfilling the promise of reproductive freedom for Minnesotans and people across the US seeking safe and legal abortion care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2023

CONTACT
Erin Hart, Communications Director
508.250.7621

Saint Paul, Minn.—As anti-abortion lawmakers in other states race to enact the most extreme restrictions on abortion rights and access in the wake of last year’s US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Minnesota’s coalition for reproductive rights, health, and justice is urging the state’s first-ever pro-reproductive-freedom legislative majority to act quickly and decisively to pass legislation that would place Minnesota in the vanguard of states offering robust protections of reproductive rights, justice, and access to essential health care.

“With the Protect Reproductive Options Act, we have before us a once-in-a-generation opportunity not only to defend but to proudly advance reproductive freedom in our state,” said Christy Hall, a senior staff attorney for Gender Justice and member of the UnRestrict Minnesota coalition who testified in support of the PRO Act today.

“On behalf of the strong majority of people across the state who want Minnesota to be a beacon of reproductive freedom in the United States, we urge the House to pass HF 1 and continue the vital work of making abortion care accessible to all Minnesotans, and to all who come to our state seeking abortion care.”

The Protect Reproductive Options (or PRO) Act, introduced on January 3 as HF 1, supports and defends people’s right to make and act on the full spectrum of decisions available to them regarding their pregnancies and their reproductive health care — without government interference. It would enshrine in Minnesota law the right of every individual to choose to continue a pregnancy and give birth to a child, or to choose to obtain an abortion, and would also protect every individual’s fundamental rights to make and act on their own decisions about whether and when to seek or refuse reproductive health care, and to choose or refuse contraception and seeking sterilization.

Its introduction comes in the wake of a Minnesota state court decision in 2022 striking down many of Minnesota’s anti-abortion laws as violating the state constitution — and last November’s midterm elections, in which huge numbers of Minnesotans turned out to elect the state’s first-ever pro-reproductive freedom legislative majority.

Polling commissioned by UnRestrict Minnesota and conducted by PerryUndem in December 2022 showed strong and even overwhelming majorities of Minnesota voters strongly supporting decisive action by state lawmakers to protect abortion rights and expand abortion access.

According to the poll, 89% of Minnesota voters want to know what their state elected officials are doing on the topic of abortion, and want to see their legislators take action. Almost two-thirds of voters want laws that support rights and access to abortion, and 68% support repealing laws that restrict access to abortion.

“The lawmakers stepping up now to expand and protect reproductive freedom are doing so in accordance with the values and wishes of the vast majority of Minnesotans from all walks of life, spanning the entire state,” said Hall. “They have seen what’s happening to abortion rights and access in other states, they do not want the same thing to happen here, and they are very much looking to our elected representatives to advance their will.”

UnRestrict Minnesota noted that further action will be needed to fulfill the entirety of Minnesotans’ vision for reproductive freedom in the state, citing findings in the recent polling that 67 percent of Minnesota voters say they want everyone in the state to have equal access to abortion, regardless of their location or financial status, and 66 percent support Medicaid coverage for abortion care.

“The PRO Act represents a vitally important step in the march toward genuine and lasting reproductive freedom in Minnesota,” said Hall. “There is more to be done following its enactment to truly fulfill the promise of reproductive rights, justice, and health care access in Minnesota, but all such advances must be built on a solid foundation, and the passage of the PRO Act will establish exactly that.”

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