Session recap: Bills stall in divided Minnesota legislature; moms of disabled babies share powerful testimony

The legislative session ended on May 18 with both pro-life and anti-life bills failing to pass the narrowly divided Minnesota legislature. MCCL worked to advance two lifesaving measures and to stop multiple dangerous proposals from becoming law.

Moms testify to denied care

On March 25, a Minnesota House committee rejected, on a 10-11 vote, an MCCL-backed bill that would empower parents and protect children from the denial of lifesaving treatment.

Called “Simon’s Law” (HF 4568 / SF4790), the measure states that before a provider issues a "do not resuscitate" (DNR) order, or an order to withhold lifesaving treatment or nutrition and hydration, the parents of the child must be notified and given time to transfer the child to another facility to receive care. It also gives parents a civil cause of action if their rights are violated.

Laurie Nelson, the mother of a child with Trisomy 18, testified before the committee that medical providers repeatedly sought to deny life-sustaining care to her daughter, even issuing a DNR order without parent consent. "I realized that options existed—but they were not being offered because of her diagnosis," she said. Nelson worked to ensure care for her daughter, who today is alive and well at nine years old.

Another mother, Mary Kellett, testified that when her baby was born with Trisomy 18, “it was recommended that we stop all treatment, wrap him in a blanket, and let him die.” Kellett fought to make sure her child, Peter, received ordinary care, and he lived six and a half more years before dying when he again wasn't fully treated. “He was the happiest, sweetest little boy, and we miss him terribly,” Kellett said. She started the ministry Prenatal Partners for Life “to help other families with support, information, and encouragement.” 

Coerced abortion, pro-abortion amendment, and IVF addressed in other bills

Another MCCL-backed bill—this one to stop coerced abortions—was also introduced this year. The proposal (SF 5179) would guard against coerced abortion on minors that can happen through threats and violence, through abuse of the abortion drug, and in the context of human trafficking.

Among anti-life proposals, a bill to put a pro-abortion constitutional amendment (the so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” or ERA) on the ballot passed a Senate committee but did not go further. MCCL testified against and worked to generate public opposition to the extreme measure, which aims to enshrine unlimited abortion in the state Constitution. MCCL helped narrowly defeat a similar bill in 2024.

An IVF (in vitro fertilization) funding bill received multiple committee hearings but also failed to become law this year. MCCL opposes the bill because it would direct tax dollars to the eugenic selection and destruction of human beings at the embryonic stage of their development—a key part of how IVF is usually (though not always) practiced.

A version of this article first appeared in the April-June 2026 issue of MCCL News.