BALTIMORE — With the Roe v. Wade court decision that legalized abortion in peril, top women lawmakers in Maryland are pushing to guarantee rights to the procedure in the state’s constitution.
“We will do everything we can to make sure women’s reproductive health care is always protected in Maryland,” said House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones.
Central to her effort is a bill that, if passed by state lawmakers, would give Maryland voters the chance to vote in November to enshrine the right to choose an abortion in the state constitution. Maryland law already guarantees the legality of the procedure.
Other bills sponsored by Jones and her team would allow more medical professionals to perform abortion procedures and prescribe abortion drugs, including nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and medical assistants. The legislation also would expand training opportunities for medical professionals, require private insurance to cover abortions at no out-of-pocket cost and require Medicaid to cover abortions.
“Abortion is health care and health care is a human right. And access to abortion care is clearly a civil right,” said Karen Nelson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Maryland.
Efforts to limit access to abortion have repeatedly failed in Maryland, especially with a 2-to-1 Democratic majority in the General Assembly. But supporters of abortion access say Maryland is feeling the strain from the anti-abortion movement, including protests outside clinics and threats to providers.
Abortion providers say they’re seeing more patients coming to Maryland from other states that have instituted severe restrictions on abortions, including Texas. Roe v. Wade was a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion throughout the United States.
Delegate Shane Pendergrass, who chairs a key health committee in the House of Delegates, is confident the bills will pass.
“I think we believe we have the votes to pass this,” said Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat.
The bills will have a public hearing in the House Health and Government Operations Committee next week. Should they pass both the House and the Senate by the time the General Assembly adjourns in April, the constitutional question would go to voters on November’s ballot.
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