Catholics and others are urged to gather in the rotunda at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul at 3 p.m. May 8.

The purpose: A rally to demand that lawmakers reject changes to the state constitution that would include a right to abortion and that would not allow religious exemptions to actions based on gender identity and expression.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference has been urging rejection of SF37 — or the “so-called” Equal Rights Amendment — and its companion proposal HF173 since they were introduced last year.

On May 5, MCC Executive Director and General Counsel Jason Adkins testified against the proposed constitutional amendment in the House Rules Committee, arguing that lack of protection against religious discrimination “should be troubling to all Minnesotans.”

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester said in videotaped comments on YouTube that the proposed constitutional amendment is designed to make a right to abortion difficult to legislate against.

The amendment also would impose the belief on people that gender identity is a social construct that people can decide on their own, which is opposed to teachings of the Catholic Church, the bishop said.

Additionally, Bishop Baron said, “We certainly should not be experimenting on young kids through surgical interventions and chemical interventions, messing with their gender and their development.”

In the video, Bishop Barron urged people to attend the rally.

“On May the 8th there is going to be a rally up in St. Paul,” the bishop said. “Go if you can.”

More information about the rally can be found here.

People — including those who cannot attend the rally — can reach individual lawmakers here.

More information about the proposed constitutional amendment can be found at mncatholic.org/era.

“In simple terms,” MCC officials said in information about the rally, “adding this language to our state constitution would enshrine access to abortion up to the moment of birth and establish ‘gender identity and expression’ as a protected class that will harm religious liberty and women’s rights.

“It gets worse,” the MCC statement said. “The proposed language … fails to include ‘religion’ as protected from discrimination. The insufficient protections against religious discrimination and the free exercise of religion poses a serious threat to religious liberty.”