Abortion-rights advocates at a rally outside the White House in this 2019 file photo. Question 1 on the Maryland ballot this fall would enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution if approved by voters. Photo by Astrid Riecken/Getty Images
We live in a moment of profound uncertainty regarding the future of reproductive rights. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the United States Supreme Court removed U.S. constitutional protections, overturning Roe v. Wade.
Almost immediately a flood of state laws across the country has created a functional barrier to abortion. Due to the Dobbs decision, 14 states restrict abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Five states ban abortions at six weeks (about 1 1/2 months) when cardiac activity is detected.
In the 2023 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly responded to the Dobbs decision by enacting the Reproductive Freedom Package, with the leadership of House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, strongly endorsed by newly elected Gov. Wes Moore.
The Reproductive Freedom Package created greater access to reproductive health care. Included in the package of legislation was the bill that establishes reproductive freedom – including in vitro fertilization (IVF), contraceptives and abortion – as a right protected by the Maryland Constitution. The measure must be ratified by Maryland voters and the language on the ballot reads as follows:
“The proposed amendment confirms an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue or end the individual’s pregnancy, and provides the State may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
Opponents of Question 1 are claiming a multitude of falsehoods.
Opponents argue that the amendment is not necessary because we already have laws in Maryland that protect an adult’s right to have an abortion. This is true, however, we all know that laws can be repealed and or changed, depending on who is elected to political office or who is chosen to fill judgeships.
We are seeing this happen all over the country. For example, today more than a dozen other U.S. states have laws in place that could be interpreted as bestowing personhood rights on an embryo, therefore endangering medical professionals and a procedure that has given life to millions of people and hope to some of the one in six adults who struggle with infertility. Enshrining the right to reproductive freedom in our state constitution protects this important right from future political attacks.
Some opponents are claiming that the amendment will require taxpayer funding of sexual reassignment surgery of children. There is nothing in the amendment that allows for this to occur. The fiscal note on the legislation, written by the Department of Legislative Services of the Maryland General Assembly specifically says, “State Effect: none. Local effect: none. Small business effect: none.”
Reproductive health for women and girls needs to be driven by safety and medical expertise, not by scarcity or political moralizing. We know that people across the country will be looking to other states when their own state governments try to dictate their medical choices.
The constitutional amendment does not change established Maryland law on abortions. Currently, abortion is legal until approximately 22 to 24 weeks. Nine additional states across the nation have ballot measures in November to add state constitutional protections for reproductive health rights.