Deceptive abortion-up-to-birth ERA revived in MN Senate committee

February 23, 2026 | Press Release

ST. PAUL — Today a Minnesota Senate committee passed, along party lines, a bill for an amendment to enshrine unlimited abortion in the state Constitution. The bill, SF 473, would put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters in the fall; the amendment is a version of the so-called Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that, among other controversial provisions, would establish in the Constitution a right to abortion without limits at any stage of pregnancy. 

"In a reprise of 2024, this bill once again conceals abortion-up-to-birth in innocuous language and attempts to dupe Minnesota’s citizens, who overwhelmingly oppose unlimited abortion, into unknowingly voting for just that," testified MCCL Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser during the hearing in the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. "It is clear this current language does not advance true equal rights for all Minnesotans. Instead, it threatens the rights of those who disagree with its agenda, robbing them of the rights that are the bedrock of our nation."

If the bill passes, voters would be asked on the ballot about protecting equal rights based on "pregnancy" (among other characteristics)—with no mention or implication of abortion. But the actual amendment that would be adopted would protect the right to abortion (the right to decide "whether to ... remain pregnant") without qualification. An amendment to remove abortion from SF 473 was voted down in today's committee hearing. 

A similar ERA bill failed to pass the Legislature in 2024. A poll that year found that 64 percent of Minnesotans didn’t want abortion included in the amendment (KSTP/SurveyUSA, May 2024).