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Senate Committee Hears Bill to Protect Women's Sports

On Wednesday, Senator Carrie Ruud’s bill to protect girls’ sports here in Minnesota was heard by the Education Finance and Policy Committee. The bill clarifies Title IX and existing Minnesota laws that protect opportunities for girls in sports, stating that a school that allows a male athlete to compete in women’s or girls’ athletic events is in violation of these provisions. Senator Ruud explained that she graduated from high school prior to the passage of Title IX and experienced firsthand the lack of athletic opportunities for young women. “If we continue to allow biological males to play on girls’ sports teams, we will no longer have female athletes and the very thing we fought for… in Title IX will be gone,” she said.

Beth Stelzer, founder of Save Women’s Sports, testified in support of the bill, sharing about her experience competing in USA Powerlifting, which is currently being sued because they did not allow a biological male to compete in the women’s division at the Minnesota State Bench Press Championship in 2019.“Fairness, privacy, and safety for females must be ensured and protected, and like most women, I would never have started my fitness journey if I would have to compete against males. There would have been no point. I’m sure my teenage self would have felt the same way,” Stelzer told the committee.  

Senator Ruud’s bill is crucial for Minnesota’s women and girls. Maintaining separate sports teams for male and female athletes takes the differences between men and women into account in such a way that student athletes can thrive.

Save Women's Sports: An Attorney's Perspective

On February 3, the Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee heard SF 96, the Save Women’s Sports Bill. Under state and federal law, the legislature has a duty to protect female athletes from unfair discriminatory practices throughout the state. SF 96 does just that, resolving misguided policies regarding eligibility for K-12 athletes. Since 2014 organizations and individuals in Minnesota have aggressively asserted that male athletes have a right to play on female sports teams – which is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution as well as federal and state law, specifically protections afforded to students in Title IX. And, based on President Biden’s very first Executive Order, SF 96 is now a necessity if women’s sports are to continue.

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. This order amounts to an attack on biology that will severely affect women and girls. Let’s be clear: any and all forms of discrimination are wrong and we should work toward resolution. However, in the name of equality this executive order discriminates against nearly half of the population – women – by requiring the head of each federal agency, in consultation with the Attorney General, to “revise, suspend, or rescind such agency actions, or promulgate new agency actions, as necessary to fully implement statutes” that contradict current legal protections against sex discrimination.

In other words, any anti-discrimination policies under the Biden administration will be based on categories of gender identity, NOT biology. To illustrate the magnitude of this order, consider the response from the – Human Rights Campaign, one of the most aggressive LGBTQ advocacy groups in the county, “Biden’s Executive Order is the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president.”

Poll Shows Most Americans Support Abortion Restrictions

According to recent polling data from Marist, even though the majority of respondents described themselves as “pro-choice,” a majority of Americans support significant restrictions on abortion. As President Biden, congressional democrats, and pro-abortion lawmakers in many states push for radical abortion laws, they are increasingly out of step with the American public. Three-quarters of the Marist’s respondents were in favor of significant restrictions on abortion, including 55% of respondents who described themselves as “pro-choice.”

Marist’s data also found that 65% of Americans oppose or strongly oppose taxpayer-funded abortions, and 77% oppose the use of U.S. tax dollars to pay for abortions in other nations. Just over a week after he took office, President Biden reversed the Mexico City Policy, which prevented the funding of abortions overseas. He and his allies in Congress have also set their sights on ending the Hyde Amendment, a pro-life rider that prevents federal funds from being spent on abortion. Based on Marist’s data, the Hyde Amendment and the Mexico City Policy are supported by the majority of Americans. Similarly, according to Marist, only 15% of Americans support abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, yet the recent push to codify Roe v. Wade would do just that. The radical pro-abortion policies being championed by President Biden and his political allies are not only unspeakable wrong, they are also incredibly unpopular.

Life begins at conception and abortion at any stage ends the life of an innocent child. Popular opinion can never change that. The abortion lobby’s insistence on abortion “on demand without apology” would still be evil even if was supported by the majority of Americans. But right now, this position doesn’t even have the support of the majority of Americans. It has the support of the powerful, wealthy abortion lobby and the politicians they work to elect. Planned Parenthood has been very open about which policies they want to see the Biden administration enact—policies that end the lives of the unborn and put the interests of Planned Parenthood above the safety and well-being of women. 

 Thank you for sharing Minnesota Family Council’s vision for strong families and communities through Christ. As we pivot from a contentious election to the challenges ahead, we need your support now more than ever. Click here to give now. We are grateful for your partnership with us through prayer and financial support.

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