Health Conference Committee - Oppose Unrestricting Abortion, Gender Treatments, and Infertility Coverage

Urge the Conference Committee appointees to oppose the pro-abortion provisions in the Health Omnibus Bill!

Ten members from both the House and the Senate and from both sides of the aisle have been appointed to a conference committee to determine what to keep and what to leave out of the final version of the Health omnibus bill. Urge them to leave out all the provisions that will harm, not help!

The House version comes littered with the repeal of many commonsense health and safety protections surrounding abortion. A sample of these include:

• Abortion reporting requirements
• Women's Right to Know
• Informed consent
• Nearly all of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act
• Hospitalization law
• Physician's only law
• And more!

Their bill also proposes changes to funding streams for abortion and sex transition treatments such as puberty blockers. These provisions include:

• Repealing the Positive Alternative grant program, which awarded $3.5 million per year to pro-life organizations throughout Minnesota
• Removing the limitations so that state-funded MinnesotaCare can cover elective abortions
• Increasing the reimbursement rate for abortions under the Family Planning Grant by 20 percent, which awards nearly a quarter of its grant budget to Planned Parenthood
• Changing its coverage limits so that Medical Assistance can cover "gender-affirming care,” meaning unethical sex transition treatments

The version proposed by the Senate has fewer abortion provisions, but it includes a harmful mandate to cover IVF and other assisted reproduction services that violate the consciences and religious liberty of the Minnesotans who will now be forced to pay for them, even when they are medically unnecessary.

The Senate proposal includes covering:

• In vitro fertilization
• Potentially, the legalization of surrogacy in Minnesota
• Artificial insemination (implanting sperm into uterus)
• Up to four oocyte retrievals (retrieving the eggs from the mother)
• Cryopreservation techniques (freezing embryos)
• Unlimited embryo transfers (transferring the fertilized embryo back into the mother)
• And more!

Read our One-Pager to Learn More!

What MCC has done so far (Resources/Testimony):

• Testimony on infertility mandates
• Testimony on the Senate Omnibus Bill
• Testimony on the House Omnibus Bill
  

Check out our abortion page for more info.

Church Teaching:

On assisted reproductive technologies from Begotten Not Made: A Catholic View of Reproductive Technology: “Human beings bear the image and likeness of God. They are to be reverenced as sacred. Never are they to be used as a means to an end, not even to satisfy the deepest wishes of an infertile couple. Husbands and wives "make love," they do not "make babies." They give expression to their love for one another, and a child may or may not be engendered by that act of love. The marital act is not a manufacturing process, and children are not products. Like the Son of God himself, we are the kind of beings who are "begotten, not made" and, therefore, of equal status and dignity with our parents.” 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2258) states, "Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being."

Act Now

One Minute: Send a message to the health conference committee urging them to keep the repeal of numerous abortion guardrails, the expansion of taxpayer funded abortion and gender treatments, and an infertility coverage mandate out of the final bill. Note, your email will go to all ten members of the committee, even if they are not your specific legislator. 

5 Minutes: After sending the elected officials a quick email, take another minute to call their office or send a video message. A suggested script and talking points will show up on your device. 

You can also call the conference committee members directly:

Chair Rep. Liebling - DFL (651-296-0573)
Chair Sen. Wiklund - DFL (651-297-8061)
Rep. Bierman - DFL (651-296-5506)
Rep. Pinto - DFL (651-296-4199)
Rep. Schomacker - R (651-296-5505)
Rep. Keeler - DFL (651-296-5515)
Sen. Abeler - R (651-296-3733)
Sen. Boldon - DFL (651-296-3903)
Sen. Kupec -DFL (651-296-3205)
Sen. Morrison - DFL (651-296-9261)

More Time: Share our one-pager and this message with your family, friends, and fellow parishioners. We have a real chance of stopping some of this legislation from passing, and we need your help!