ICYMI: Star Tribune: “Joe Teirab’s work with a crisis pregnancy center is drawing new scrutiny because its adoption agency works only with married, heterosexual couples.”

EAGAN, MN – Recent reporting from The Minnesota Star Tribune takes a deeper dive into Joe Teirab’s work with New Life Family Services, a crisis pregnancy and adoption services center in Minnesota.

According to the Star Tribune, Teirab has been a board member of New Life Family Services since 2022. The reporting details how the organization only allows married, heterosexual couples to adopt and includes commentary on the legal ambiguity of this adoption requirement – including from Christy Hall, an attorney who states this requirement “clearly violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act.”

Additionally, the article touches on Teirab’s staunch opposition to abortion – mentioning his responses to a Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life (MCCL) Voter Guide in which he promised to let state politicians continue to ban abortion with no exceptions.

Read more below.

Star Tribune: 2nd District GOP candidate Joe Teirab’s work with crisis pregnancy center scrutinized
October 20th, 2024

• Second District Congressional candidate Joe Teirab’s work with a crisis pregnancy center is drawing new scrutiny because its adoption agency works only with married, heterosexual couples.
• Teirab, a Republican challenging DFL U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, joined the board of directors of New Life Family Services in 2022, according to tax filings.
• “Here in the Second District, we believe that people should have the freedom to marry and build a family with the person they love,” Craig said in a statement. “To try to restrict that fundamental freedom is way out-of-touch with people across this district.”
• Abortion and reproductive rights have been a top issue in Minnesota’s most competitive congressional race. Craig is seeking a fourth term representing the Second District that stretches from the Twin Cities southern suburbs to Le Sueur County.
• Craig has criticized Teirab’s opposition to abortion, including answers he gave on a survey from Minnesotans Concerned for Life that he would not support legislation to weaken existing abortion restrictions.
• On its website, New Life Adoptions, a program of New Life Family Services, says prospective parents who want to work with the group must have been married for at least two years. The group holds a “Biblical sexual ethic: Marriage is between one man and one woman.”
• Christy Hall, an attorney with Gender Justice, an equity advocacy group, said the restriction “clearly violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act.” Hall noted the organization’s policy likely has not been challenged. “There is not any kind of religious exemption to the public accommodations statute.”