Counterpoint: In response to Matt Birk's request that pro-choice people 'come clean'

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I am a mom, reproductive justice advocate and a state senator. Matt Birk called for pro-choice advocates like me to come clean (Opinion Exchange, Aug. 11), so here I go.

I believe that every person has the right to have a child, not have a child, and raise children in safe, sustainable and thriving communities. That's why I introduced bills to give children and families the opportunity and resources to thrive, such as increasing funding for food shelves and requiring insurance companies to cover infertility services.

And it's not just me. This year, our pro-choice Legislature passed laws to increase funding for child care; create and fund the Paid Family and Medical Leave program; bolster the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; establish universal school meals; reduce gun violence; build affordable housing and so much more. Yet supposedly "pro-life" legislators voted against every single one. Birk should be asking his own party where they were on policies to support pregnant Minnesotans and their families.

Abortion bans across the country are causing immense harm. Look no further than Texas, the first state to ban abortion, where the infant mortality rate has increased by 11.5% and infant deaths caused by severe abnormalities have increased by 22%. Or look to Mayron, where a Tennessee woman had to get an emergency hysterectomy after being denied abortion care. Or consider the devastating experiences of the Texas women denied abortion care, one who was forced to carry and give birth to a child with no brain or skull, another required to endure blood poisoning, and a third required to fly to another state to receive care after her water broke early. What of Deborah, a Florida woman who was required to give birth to her child with a lethal fetal anomaly, then watch him struggle to breathe for 99 minutes before dying — an experience that was described as literal torture? These examples are just the tip of the iceberg of what we've known about the impact of being denied an abortion: increased economic insecurity, increased risk of serious health conditions and more women staying with a violent partner. Matt Birk wants to bring that trauma, horror and harm to Minnesota.

The anti-abortion movement wants to use our government to force people to remain pregnant and give birth against their will — apparently to increase the supply of infants placed for adoption, as Birk shockingly wrote. Aside from the fact that more than 90% of people denied access to abortion care do not place their children for adoption — not to mention that many people who have abortions do so for reasons other than not wanting to be a parent — the attempt to link adoption to Minnesotans' right to decide what happens to our own bodies lays bare one of the most insidious beliefs of the anti-abortion movement. It must be said: Infants are not commodities, and women are not baby factories. Politicians cannot force people to give birth because there are more families who want to adopt infants than there are infants being placed for adoption. I know how painful and difficult infertility and pregnancy loss can be, and it is ghastly to use that as a justification for the elimination of Minnesotans' bodily autonomy.

And why did the Legislature stop spending $7 million taxpayer dollars each biennium to fund crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)? Because crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion organizations that work to reach low-income people facing unintended pregnancies and prevent them from accessing abortion care. They provide virtually no health care, coerce and deceive pregnant people, and collect their private health information to sell to the national anti-abortion industry. In Minnesota, some state-funded crisis pregnancy centers are rife with questionable utilization of public funds. One state-funded CPC in Minnesota received $65,000 to serve 20 clients or fewer per year, and those clients were primarily receiving parenting education classes, which were available for free at the local community hospital. Instead of propping up these problematic centers, the Minnesota Legislature created the "Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Families Program" to fund community programs that improve outcomes for pregnant people and newborns, and prevent infant mortality through evidence-based practices, medical care and social connection. That's what real support for pregnant and parenting Minnesotans looks like.

My own experience with pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum preeclampsia only strengthened my commitment to achieving reproductive justice. I know deeply that the ability of Minnesotans to make their own pregnancy decisions is directly connected to the conditions in their community — and these conditions are not just a matter of individual choice and access. Support and resources for making decisions regarding pregnancy have to be safe, affordable, accessible and noncoercive.

Though anti-abortion politicians spent the last 50 years quietly working to ban abortion in Minnesota, thankfully almost every single abortion restriction brought before state courts has been struck down as unconstitutional. This past session, the Legislature repealed those unconstitutional laws and — contrary to the inflammatory rhetoric and outright lies by the anti-abortion movement — abortion care is now just treated like all other health care under Minnesota law.

The reproductive health, rights and justice movement wants everyone to have access to the full spectrum of pregnancy care, including abortion; doula and midwife support; paid leave to heal and bond with a new baby; nursing and pumping rights at work; affordable housing for every family; diaper and formula banks and so much more. We focus on actual life-sustaining policies for pregnant people, parents and their children.

The anti-abortion movement can keep their "pro-life" label. We'll keep doing the actual pro-life work.

Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, is a member of the Minnesota Senate.