Minnesota NARAL Releases 2003 Legislative Scorecard and Summary
Saint Paul, Minnesota—-Minnesota NARAL released the Pro-Choice Legislative Scorecard of the 2003 session today. In it constituents can see just how their elected officials did on reproductive rights in this legislative session. The scorecard looks at six votes in the Senate and 20 votes in the House. Votes in both bodies include various anti-choice and pro-choice amendments, as well as on the so-called "Woman's Right to Know Act," which was ultimately passed and signed by the governor. The scorecard can be viewed on the Minnesota NARAL web site (MNNARAL.org). >> View the Scorecard (PDF)
(Users must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF documents.) LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY There is no doubt that the “highlight” of the 2003 legislative session will be the audacity of the Minnesota Citizen’s Concerned for Life (MCCL) attaching the 24-hour abortion waiting period to a circus bill and its subsequent signing by their hand picked governor, Tim Pawlenty. And yet, from the perspective of the pro-choice community, the real story of the 2003 legislative session is that despite the overwhelming anti-choice majorities in the legislature, we were able to prevent a whole host of other nasty legislation from becoming law. Our victories included:
Securing near full-funding for Family Planning without a ‘gag rule’;
Stopping the MCCL’s #2 priority, the “Super Gag Rule”;
Preserving adolescent’s ability to consent to their own care in several areas including mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, pregnancy-related treatment, and contraception (a.k.a. “Minor’s Consent”);
Defeating nearly 20 other anti-choice initiatives ranging from the ridiculous: allowing a pharmacist to refuse to dispense a prescription based on personal, religious, or moral conviction; to the unrealistic: diverting at least 10% of state Family Planning Special Projects funds to groups devoted only to “natural family planning;”
Introducing two pro-active, pregnancy prevention bills including mandating access to emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault and a requirement that health care plans treat contraceptives equally to other prescription drugs.Thank you to all Minnesota NARAL members who contacted their legislators this session. We couldn’t have done it without you!
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