A bill that would restore a state-funded grant program for pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes that the DFL trifecta eliminated two years ago is headed to the House floor.
Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar, R-Fredenberg Township, is sponsoring the “Supporting Women Act,” which would provide $4 million annually in state grants to pregnancy centers and maternity homes across Minnesota.
On Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to recommend the bill, HF25, be placed on the General Register. The bill is scheduled for a floor vote on Thursday afternoon.
The bill would need the support of at least one Democrat to pass. Its companion legislation in the Senate is sponsored by five Republicans but has not yet been given a hearing, where Democrats control the chamber by one seat.
House Democrats have adamantly opposed the bill along party lines as it has weaved its way through three committees over the last month.
Zeleznikar told her colleagues on Monday the legislation is in response to a 2023 omnibus health bill that included a provision that eliminated the Positive Alternatives Grant Program. That provision was included in a section of the $7.1 billion spending bill that sought to repeal a number of laws that Democrats believe restricted abortion access in Minnesota.
“This is a bill to restore 17 years of bipartisan work,” Zeleznikar told her colleagues on Monday. “Seventeen years of giving women options so that they have choices to make for their individual health and individual life.”
The “Positive Alternatives Grant Program” was created in 2005 after it passed in the House by a vote of 112-17 and in the Senate by a vote of 53-11. Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the legislation into law and the program was active for more than 17 years, until the DFL trifecta successfully eliminated it as part of its legislative agenda two years ago.
Two current Democratic legislators who voted “yes” to the bill that created the grant program 20 years ago are Reps. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester.
Language in the bill states that in order to be eligible to receive a grant, a pregnancy resource center or maternity home would need to be a nonprofit, offer services or referrals to pregnant women or women who recently gave birth, and provide those services free or at a reduced cost.
During a hearing Monday in the House Ways and Means Committee—the bill’s last stop before it heads to the House floor—Rep. Robert Bierman, DFL-Apple Valley, unsuccessfully offered an amendment that would have removed language from the legislation that currently states that to be eligible, pregnancy resource centers cannot use any grant funds to refer women to organizations that provide abortions or “encourage or counsel women to have an abortion that is not necessary to prevent the woman’s death.”
Democrats who criticized the bill told Zeleznikar they wanted more assurances that pregnancy centers and maternity homes eligible to receive state-funded grants would be subject to health data privacy laws and expressed concern they are “unregulated and unlicensed.”
Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, pointed out that the bill already had been vetted in the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee, where legislators pointed out that the legislation is governed by the Minnesota Health Records Act, “and that is what governs every single health record in the state of Minnesota.”
“And if you are concerned about data breaches maybe we need to look at Planned Parenthood, who had a big data breach in September of 2024 where names and addresses of patients were hacked into,” she said.
While Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, contended that women are often misled by pregnancy resource centers to believe that they are medical clinics, Zeleznikar disputed that claim.
“These places are not saying they are a medical clinic, they are a resource center,” Zeleznikar said. “The grants that go to sexual and reproductive health grants, to my knowledge, they are not a licensed setting either. A medical clinic is licensed. A hospital is licensed. That’s not what this program is for.”
“This bill will simply allow choices for women,” Zeleznikar said. “This will ensure that happens with funding pregnancy resource centers once again, including maternity homes.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
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