Minnesota needs an ERA that includes gender and reproductive freedom

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In recent weeks, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), one of the state’s leading anti-abortion groups, announced a million-dollar ad campaign arguing against a proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that includes protections for gender and reproductive freedom.

If passed by the Minnesota House and Senate in the remaining days of this legislative session and subsequently approved by Minnesota voters in 2026, the amendment would enshrine equal rights for all in the state Constitution with clear protections for women, LGBTQ community members and pregnant people, regardless of pregnancy outcomes (“House DFLers push for expanded ERA on ballot,” front page, April 7). This explicit protection means that reproductive freedom would be protected in Minnesota, no matter who sits in the governor’s office, Legislature or the courts.

The irony of MCCL’s ad campaign, which has been scrutinized by the media and lambasted by Minnesotans on Reddit, is that groups like MCCL are exactly why Minnesota needs the ERA.

Founded in 1968, MCCL is part of the national movement that spent decades working to overturn Roe vs. Wade and ban abortion in every state. In Minnesota, MCCL has been responsible for passing myriad laws since the 1970s to make getting an abortion in Minnesota harder and more expensive.

While a lawsuit filed by Gender Justice was able to reverse many of these longstanding restrictions on abortion access through a court ruling made in 2022, there is no guarantee that a future Legislature, court or judge would uphold the reproductive freedom we have in Minnesota today.

Minnesota’s ERA would do three things:

First, it would guarantee equal rights under the law regardless of sex or gender, with protections for reproductive freedom. Neither Minnesota nor the U.S. Constitutions have guarantees on the basis of sex or gender. States that have abortion bans either have no constitutional protections in place — like Minnesota — or they have outdated language that judges argue does not protect reproductive freedom.

Second, it would protect all Minnesotans from discrimination under the law, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

And third, it would offer every Minnesotan the strongest possible protections against discrimination based on race, national origin, ancestry, disability, and sex and gender — so every person is included, and no one is left out.

By enshrining the values of freedom and equality in the Minnesota Constitution, we can close the door on any future attempts by groups like MCCL to introduce state laws that aim to roll back progress now, and in the future.

The need to pass the ERA is urgent. In 2023 alone, lawmakers across the country introduced more than 1,400 bills attacking reproductive freedom and transgender rights. In 2024, we have seen Arizona reinstate an 1864 law banning abortion and criminalizing doctors, the Alabama Supreme Court rule that embryos created through IVF are children, and the state of Florida enact a six-week abortion ban for its 22 million residents.

When given the chance, Minnesotans have a track record of supporting reproductive freedom and equality for all. In 2012, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to reject a constitutional amendment that would limit the freedom of LGBTQ+ couples to marry, paving the way for marriage equality. After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Minnesota voted in its first-ever pro-reproductive-freedom majorities into the Legislature.

Minnesota has the opportunity to continue this legacy through a constitutional amendment that is long overdue. We urge lawmakers to pass the ERA and allow Minnesotans to vote our values and stand firmly for equal rights, once and for all.

Megan Peterson is executive director of Gender Justice, a Minnesota-based nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization dedicated to advancing gender equity through the law.