The Catholic Spirit: MCC ‘very proud’ of passage of prenatal diagnosis bill

Other legislation supported by Minnesota Catholic Conference didn’t fare as well during 2015 state legislative session

Thanks to the work of the Minnesota Catholic Conference and a coalition of disability advocacy groups, expectant parents whose babies are diagnosed with certain prenatal conditions will receive accurate and supportive information from local and national organizations.

Gov. Mark Dayton signed the Prenatal Trisomy Diagnosis Awareness Act on May 14. The legislation covers diagnoses for three chromosomal conditions: Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) and Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). It was supported by groups such as Prenatal Partners for Life, Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota and The Arc of Minnesota.

“We’re very proud of that legislation — the seventh of its kind in the country, but the first to include requirements for passing on information to expectant parents about Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18,” said Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the state’s bishops. “It had bipartisan support and passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate.”

“Oftentimes, people are told information, even by doctors, about short life expectancies and low-quality of life in these cases,” Adkins said at the start of the session explaining the need for such legislation. “But, in fact, these lives can be beautiful lives that are a great gift to families and others. We want to make sure that people who receive these diagnoses aren’t overly discouraged, that they have the accurate information they need to deal with these difficult situations.”

Two other potential pro-life gains supported by the MCC were included in the final Health and Human Services omnibus bill, which the governor had not yet signed as of May 20.

One would increase funding for the Positive Alternatives and Safe Place for Newborns programs. Positive Alternatives supports and assists women to carry their pregnancies to term, while Safe Place for Newborns allows a mother or someone acting with her permission to safely surrender her unharmed infant, born within the past seven days, to a designated safe place.

Another provision of the bill would strengthen the Born Alive Infant Protection Act for children who survive abortion procedures.

Other MCC-supported legislation, however, failed to garner the necessary support before lawmakers wrapped up the Minnesota Legislature’s 2015 regular session May 18. And there’s not much chance the proposals would get a hearing during a special session focused on education spending that is likely to be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Partisan politics shaped too many of the debates, Adkins said, adding that “the session started out promising, but ended rather poorly — and not just for some of our legislative priorities, but for a lot of folks.”

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Partisan politics shaped too many of the debates, Adkins said, adding that “the session started out promising, but ended rather poorly — and not just for some of our legislative priorities, but for a lot of folks.”

Read the full story at The Catholic Spirit.