Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn had spent weeks working on her bill, but it wasn't until the eve of the first hearing — with discussions of security, television cameras and keeping the debate civil — that it fully dawned on her what she was taking on.
Seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and two months after voters gave her party complete control of state government, she was sponsoring a proposal to enshrine the right to abortion in Minnesota law for the first time in the state's 165-year history.
The high court had kicked the abortion debate back to the states, and now she was running with it.
"This is one of the most impactful pieces of legislation that I'll ever pass," said the three-term DFL legislator from Eden Prairie.
The proposal, expected to be signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz before the end of the month, represents a massive shift in momentum on an issue that, for decades, state lawmakers could do little to change. In the post-Roe world, legislators across the country now have the power to shape the abortion landscape. And while many states are moving to ban or limit access to the procedure, Minnesota's DFL trifecta is rushing to guarantee abortion rights for decades to come.
The legislators leading the proposals in Minnesota are all women. Along with codifying the right to abortion, they're pushing legislation to repeal longstanding abortion regulations, put restrictions on state funding for crisis pregnancy centers and protect health care providers and women traveling to Minnesota for the procedure.
"We're really fortunate to live in Minnesota right now … because we have these pro-choice, pro-reproductive freedom majorities," said Sen. Jen McEwen, DFL-Duluth, who is carrying the proposal to codify abortion rights in the upper chamber. She sponsored the bill last year, but it didn't get a hearing in the GOP-led Senate.
The right to abortion is protected in Minnesota through a 1995 state Supreme Court ruling in Doe v. Gomez, and in July, a Ramsey County judge struck down a handful of abortion restrictions in law. But Democrats say what happened to Roe demonstrated how judicial precedents can be overturned.