BALTIMORE — After the Maryland House of Delegates approved the bill last week, the Senate passed Tuesday its companion bill to create a referendum on enshrining a right to abortion in the state constitution.
Each chamber needs to approve the other’s bill before Maryland voters can expect to see the question on their ballots in the 2024 election. But with overwhelming support thus far in the House and Senate, such passage appears very likely.
The Senate gave its legislation final approval Tuesday morning on a vote of 32-15. The House passed its bill Friday on a vote of 99-37.
If the measure receives final approval from both chambers, and because the legislation seeks to create a referendum, it would not need the signature of new Democratic Gov. Wes Moore. However, Moore expressed support for the measure during his campaign last year and the early days of his term.
Senate Bill 798 and its twin, House Bill 705, would allow voters the chance to guarantee that “every person ... the fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including the ability to “prevent, continue or end one’s own pregnancy” without interference from the state. Though the word “abortion” is not in the bill, its protection is implied under the right to end a pregnancy.
The House passed a 2022 bill introduced by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones of Baltimore County, but the measure faltered last year in the Senate.
This year, Senate President Bill Ferguson of Baltimore sponsored the related bill in his chamber and vowed the legislature would pass it.
A poll by The Baltimore Sun and the University of Baltimore in November found an overwhelming number of likely November 2022 voters favored a state constitutional amendment to try to safeguard the procedure.
Senate Republicans made final pleas Tuesday to colleagues on the other side of the aisle, saying the Democrat-controlled Legislature sought to establish a legal standard by allowing abortion to go unchallenged in the state.
“The story in the press will be: ‘Maryland Senate votes to put ... the right to an abortion in the constitution,’” Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready of Carroll County said. “This is saying that an unborn child at any stage of pregnancy has no rights, unless you can convince a court that some regulation or some safety measure can hold up.”
The bill to turn the question of protecting access to abortion over to voters does not alter existing state regulations on abortion.
Under Maryland law, someone who is a pregnant may seek an abortion until a fetus reaches viability, which occurs around 24 weeks. Abortions may be performed after that if the life or health of person who’s pregnant is in danger or in the case of a fetal anomaly.
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