As policy associate at Minnesota Catholic Conference, part of Maggee Becker’s role is pro-life advocacy — lobbying, building relationships and partnerships with people in the pro-life movement and like-minded organizations.
“The abortion issue and pro-life movement is definitely not a quiet one, especially right now,” she said. But it’s of great comfort, she said, to know that “we’re on the side of truth and that we have God as our guide.” With God and great partners, Becker said, “we’re able to strategize and work together to make abortion unthinkable in our state.”
Maggee Becker
Becker recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss the overturning of Roe v. Wade and what it means in the state of Minnesota. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling June 24 moved the issue to state and federal legislators to decide, but the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 1995 ruling in Doe v. Gomez affirmed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion in Minnesota, so on the constitutional level, “nothing changes here,” Becker said.
On July 11, a Minnesota district judge overturned protections for women seeking an abortion, Becker said, including a 24-hour waiting period, two-parent notification and a requirement that only physicians perform abortions. With those protections and others no longer law, more problems are created for the abortion landscape in Minnesota, she said, “especially in our goal to protect the health and safety of mothers.”
With states around Minnesota working to ban abortion, Minnesota is becoming a target for “abortion tourism,” she said. “We’re already seeing a lot of companies … offering money for this to happen,” Becker said.
The faithful can boost the pro-life movement in various ways, Becker said, such as advocating for increased funding for the Positive Alternatives Grant program, which supports local pregnancy resource centers. Becker also mentioned the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Walking with Moms in Need initiative, which offers resources, prayers, reflections, ideas for use on a personal and parish level, she said. She also advised joining MCC’s Catholic Advocacy Network to receive informative “action alerts” on specific topics.
The legal landscape is difficult to walk through, Becker said, “but (there’s) a lot we can do to protect the health and safety of mothers, and our ultimate goal is making abortion unthinkable for women.”
“We know that, ultimately, we’re on the side of truth,” Becker said. “We don’t see all of these things as great difficulties, but rather, this is a new starting point for us as a pro-life movement in Minnesota,” she said, and an opportunity to get more creative and work more collaboratively.
To learn more about the MCC, which represents the public policy interests of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, and to join the Catholic Advocacy Network, visit mncatholic.org. Learn more about supporting moms in need at walkingwithmoms.com.
To hear more about ways to support the pro-life movement, listen to the full interview by tuning in to Relevant Radio 1330 AM at 9 p.m. July 22 for the “Practicing Catholic” show, which repeats at 1 p.m. July 23 and 2 p.m. July 24. Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who describes the nature and goals of the worldwide Vatican Synod called for by Pope Francis; and Nancy Schulte, family and laity outreach coordinator at the archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Life, who discusses natural family planning.
Listen to their interviews after they have aired at:
Recent Comments