Star Tribune
Minnesota to become ‘refuge’ for abortion, gender-affirming care with new laws
People traveling to Minnesota for abortion or gender-affirming care will now be shielded from legal consequences in other states under new laws signed by Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday.
The proposals advanced by Minnesota Democrats come as GOP-led states are debating and passing restrictions on abortion and health care for transgender and non-binary people. That includes neighboring states such as North Dakota, which recently enacted a law creating felony penalties for health care providers who provide gender-affirming care to minors.
Republicans have criticized the measures for making Minnesota an outlier in the nation, but Democrats are embracing the state’s status as a refuge.
“That march of bigotry and hate stops at Minnesota’s borders,” Walz said Thursday, surrounded by legislators and advocates of the proposals before signing them into law. “Freedom is on the march in Minnesota, decency is on the march in Minnesota, compassion is on the march in Minnesota.”
The governor also signed a long-sought measure to ban conversion therapy, the discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposal will prohibit the practice on minors and vulnerable adults.
While some Republicans were critical of the measure, which they argued would put restrictions on conversations between children and trusted adults, more than a dozen GOP legislators joined Democrats in voting for the ban.
“It’s been 10 years we’ve been fighting for this, it feels good,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who led the push for the proposal at the Capitol. “It’s about making sure those who follow us live in a better world.”
The abortion and gender-affirming care laws, which went into effect immediately, codify recent executive orders from Walz that respond to a rapidly changing national landscape.
More than 100 proposals have been introduced in legislatures across the country this year that aim to restrict health care affirming a person’s gender identity, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Along with North Dakota, neighboring Iowa and South Dakota have taken steps to restrict such care.
Medical organizations like the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that access to gender-affirming care is essential. The American Medical Association recently sent urging state leaders to oppose restrictions on this care, calling it “medically necessary” for transgender people “who face increased risk of anxiety, stress, substance use disorder and suicide.”
The new laws will protect families and children traveling to Minnesota for gender-affirming care from repercussions and extradition orders from other states. The abortion proposal would enact similar protections, making patient data on abortions private and restricting subpoenas from other states.
“We need to start thinking about how we’re going to support families coming to Minnesota. I expect thousands — if not more — people to respond to what we are doing here,” said Rep. Leigh Finke, the sponsor of the gender-affirming care measure and Minnesota’s first transgender legislator.
“People are desperate, scared, they need safety. Our schools are going to have to be ready, our healthcare providers are going to have to be ready,” said Finke. “This is real, it’s not hypothetical.”
Abortion and gender-affirming care providers in Minnesota have said they’ve already seen a spike in people traveling here for care. Legislative Republicans criticized the proposals for ignoring the rule of law in other states.
Abortion access is protected in Minnesota through a 1995 state Supreme Court ruling and a new law signed in January that codifies abortion rights in statute. Neighboring states South Dakota and Wisconsin immediately banned most abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. North Dakota’s governor recently signed law banning nearly all abortions.
The governor’s office said they haven’t received subpoenas or requests for extradition orders against people who have traveled here for abortion care since he issued his executive order last summer, but states are still passing new restrictions.
“We are saying we will not police your body here in Minnesota, we are saying you are safe here in Minnesota,” said Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, who sponsored the abortion bill. “We are saying you can receive the care that you need here in Minnesota.”
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
Much of the wood waste in the metro area is sent to a processing site near Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul, where it is stored before being burned to produce energy at the St. Paul Cogeneration plant downtown.
Cogeneration provides power to about half of downtown and was originally built to manage elm-tree waste in response to Dutch elm disease. The plant burns approximately 240,000 tons of wood each year, according to Michael Auger, senior vice president of District Energy in St. Paul.
Jim Calkins, a certified landscape horticulturalist who has been involved in discussions about the problem, said he thinks using wood for energy is the most logical solution.
“The issue is, we don’t have enough facilities to be able to handle that, at least in the Twin Cities,” Calkins said. “So there has to be dollars to support transportation to get the wood to those places, or in some cases, to upgrade some of those facilities such that they are able to burn wood.”
Plans are in place to convert Koda Energy in Shakopee to burn ash wood, which could potentially handle around 40,000 tons of wood waste, but that would take around two years to establish, according to Klapperich.
In some areas of the state, cities have resorted to burning excess wood waste because they felt they had no other option. Open burning wood releases a lot of carbon into the air, Klapperich said.
Weary from the rat race nature of practicing commercial law, Danielle Miller had long dreamed of starting a new professional life as a bookstore owner. When the Lincoln, Neb., resident saw a space at St. Paul’s Union Depot, she moved to make her dream a reality. She and her husband now call the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood home.
Eye On St. Paul recently visited with Miller in her sun-drenched store, Story Line Books, to talk about what spurred her to leave the law behind and lose herself in shelves of books. This interview was edited for length.
Q: So, you’ve opened a bookstore, in Lowertown. Are you a little crazy?
A: That’s been the reaction. There’s been a lot of “Really? Lowertown?” There’s been a lot of that. It’s a little unnerving.
Q: Why decide to just up and move to St. Paul?
A: We travel a lot; we travel all over the world. And we go to bookstores. We were here visiting [my husband’s] parents in Woodbury, and we drove down Randolph because we like to eat at Due Focacceria. And we saw this building that had “For Sale” on it. It was a 900-square-foot retail spot on the bottom and an apartment above. And I was like, that is the European bookstore dream, right? I looked it up online, but it got scooped up. A week later, I was looking again and this [Union Depot space] was the first post.
I was immediately in love. The next time we were up here, we made arrangements to come and see it. And I told my husband, “You should probably get a job in St Paul.”
Q: Back up a few steps. Why this compulsion to open a bookstore when you were a working attorney?
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