Minnesota legislators consider constitutional amendment to protect abortion and LGBTQ rights

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Democrats have introduced far-reaching legislation to add abortion and LGBTQ rights to the state’s constitution in hopes of making it much harder for future lawmakers to repeal these and other rights in the future.

The Minnesota Equal Rights Amendment was introduced last week and has its first legislative hearing Monday. It would be among the most expansive protections of abortion and LGBTQ rights in the nation if it is approved by lawmakers this session and then by voters on the 2026 ballot.

“This isn’t just about reproductive justice,” said Betty Folliard, whose group ERA Minnesota has been pushing for such a measure since 2014. “It’s also about pay inequity, historic stereotypes and discrimination that keep on being overlooked, generation to generation to generation.”

Minnesota already has a non-discrimination law, the Human Rights Act, that applies to individuals, businesses, schools and other institutions. The constitutional amendment would apply to state government, and would protect certain laws — including recent ones that have made Minnesota a refuge for out-of-state people seeking an abortion and gender-affirming care — from being repealed by future lawmakers and administrations.

House Majority Leader Jamie Long, a Democrat of Minneapolis, said in a statement that he strongly supports the ERA proposal, saying it would “uphold our key values of equity, non-discrimination, and reproductive freedom.”

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