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House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) announced Monday that she is sponsoring legislation aimed at enshrining abortion access in the Maryland Constitution.
鈥淩estricting women鈥檚 family planning options is dangerous and unacceptable,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will do everything we can to make sure that women鈥檚 reproductive healthcare is always protected in Maryland and send the message loud and clear that this a fundamental issue of liberty that cannot and should not be chipped away at or bargained for.鈥�
聽would create a ballot referendum allowing Marylanders to vote on whether abortion access should be protected in the state constitution.
Jones said at a news conference Monday that she is proud to pick up where her predecessor, the late House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), left off.
In 2019, Busch introduced a bill to create a ballot initiative to incorporate abortion rights into the state constitution but聽聽due to a lack of support from then-Senate President Emeritus Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. (D-Calvert).
The legislature has been working to protect the right to abortion for decades.
In 1991, the General Assembly passed a聽聽to prohibit the state from obstructing the right to abortion up until a fetus is able to live outside of the womb. Once viability is reached, abortions can be performed only if there is a fetal anomaly or to protect a woman鈥檚 health.
In 1992, a statewide referendum codified the measure, ensuring that access to abortion would still be legal in Maryland regardless of whether the Supreme Court overturned聽.
House Health and Government Operations Committee Chair Shane E. Pendergrass (D-Howard) remembered voting in favor of the referendum, known as Question Six, 30 years ago.
鈥淚 believed that by now we would be more enlightened society, recognizing a woman鈥檚 right [to] working with her doctor to make medical decisions for herself,鈥� Pendergrass said on Monday. 鈥� Unfortunately, I was wrong.鈥�
Enshrining the right to abortion access in the state constitution would make it more difficult for future General Assemblies to overturn the right.
The Supreme Court is poised to issue a decision on the聽聽case this spring.
罢丑别听聽at the case鈥檚 center: Is the聽聽that bans most abortion access after 15 weeks of pregnancy unconstitutional?
Considering the current makeup of the Supreme Court, abortion rights supporters fear for the fate of Roe v. Wade.
鈥淭he Supreme Court is likely to continue to erode 鈥� a woman鈥檚 right to control her reproductive health care,鈥� Pendergrass said. 鈥淭hese bills need to pass this year to protect access to abortion in Maryland.鈥�
Del. Ariana Kelly (D-Montgomery) said that 62% of Marylanders voted in favor of Question Six in 1992.
鈥淭oday when you poll that, the answer would be about 72%,鈥� she continued. 鈥淪o the speaker鈥檚 bill 鈥� that鈥檚 going to elevate the legal right we have to abortion in Maryland to a constitutional right is such an important statement today.鈥�
Kelly is sponsoring two bills to increase access to abortion services in the state.
, or The Abortion Care Access to Insurance Act, would require private insurance plans 鈥� barring those with legal exemptions 鈥� to cover abortion care without cost-sharing or deductibles.
For Medicaid recipients, it would make the state鈥檚 existing abortion care coverage permanent rather than having it subjected to a budget bill debate every year.
鈥淟ow-income women do not have different fundamental rights than women with private insurance,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淭his should not be up for debate every year.鈥�
, or The Abortion Care Access Act, seeks to repeal a legal restriction preventing nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants from providing abortion services. Kelly鈥檚 bill would also support providing clinical training for physicians and nurses who move to Maryland from states with more restrictive abortion laws.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are 44 abortion provider locations across Maryland.
Kelly said that residents in 71% of Maryland鈥檚 jurisdictions don鈥檛 have a provider.
Dr. Kyle Bukowski, Planned Parenthood of Maryland鈥檚 chief medical officer, said that the provider shortage begins in school: less than half of U.S. medical schools offer students hands-on clinical abortion training, he said.
According to Bukowski, this is compounded by a lack of training for interested students during their residency period and worsened when they apply to jobs where they may not have the ability to provide abortion care.
鈥淧eople need abortion providers in their communities now, and those providers need improvements in training and removal of unnecessary regulations,鈥� Bukowski said.
Kelly said that 26 states are expected to severely restrict access to abortion after the Supreme Court delivers its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson case this spring.
鈥淐linics in Maryland are seeing patients from Texas already, too, every week,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd this pressure on our providers will increase dramatically as more states restrict or ban abortion.鈥�
In September 2021, a聽聽was enacted prohibiting physicians from performing or inducing abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected.
Private citizens enforce the law, and can pursue civil lawsuits against providers or anyone who 鈥渁ids and abets鈥� access to abortion services.
Under the Texas law, abortions are allowed after six weeks of pregnancy only in the case of emergencies. In those cases, doctors are mandated to keep comprehensive records.
While not a part of the legislative package announced Monday, Del. Nicole A. Williams (D-Prince George鈥檚) and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery) are co-sponsoring a bill to protect against the restrictive laws seen in Texas and other states.
, or The Pregnant Person鈥檚 Freedom Act of 2022, would establish that civil or criminal charges can鈥檛 be pursued against people who experience miscarriages, stillbirths or who underwent abortion services.
Additionally, the bill would protect abortion providers or people providing support to someone seeking an abortion from civil and criminal liability.
鈥淭his bill is super important because, really, the criminalization of pregnancy loss is a reproductive justice and harm reduction issue,鈥� Williams said.
While some see the bill as seeking to do the 鈥渙pposite鈥� of what Texas has done, Williams said she has been working behind the scenes for years to 鈥渄ecriminalize pregnancy loss.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 largely a prophylactic measure, but it鈥檚 also a statement of values as well,鈥� Smith said late last month.
Asked what it meant for Smith, a man in a position of power in the General Assembly, to co-sponsor this legislation, he said that, 鈥渁bsent of pronouns, it鈥檚 about the general philosophy and the general protection of a[n] individual鈥檚 right to have control and domain of their body and their medical decision making.鈥�
鈥溾�t鈥檚 about safeguarding fundamental rights,鈥� he said.
