The Abortion Amendment Doesn’t Work In Maryland – CBS Baltimore

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – A proposal to respect abortion rights in the Maryland Constitution did not come before the Maryland Senate on Friday, although other measures to expand access to providers were underway.

After legislation received preliminary approval in the Senate to expand access to abortion in the state, Senate President Bill Ferguson said those measures would be “the only time we’re going to address the issue.” this in this session.”

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“I know there are a lot of other possible ideas out there. I think this is an issue that we’re going to address for this session,” Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, told his colleagues at the end of the Senate Friday session.

In the first day of this month, Maryland House of Delegates voted for a bill sponsored by House Speaker Adrienne Jones that would give voters a final say in November on whether abortion should be in the constitution. It required a three-fifths vote in the Senate to pass and put the issue on the ballot.

The right to abortion is protected in Maryland law. The state approved legislation in 1991 to do so if the Supreme Court restricts abortion. It was petitioned with the ballot, and voters approved the right in 1992 with 62% of the vote.

Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 in the state, and the General Assembly is heavily Democratic.

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The new conservative majority in the US Supreme Court is consider whether to reverse Roe v. Wade or not, a landmark 1973 ruling banning states from outlawing abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that advocates for abortion rights, if they did, at least 26 states would potentially ban abortion altogether or severely restrict access.

However, other states are drafting proposals to counter those measures.

The Maryland Senate Enhancement Act on Friday passed in the House of Representatives to expand access to abortion in the state. The law would increase the number of qualified providers in the state. It would remove a legal restriction that prevents nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants from providing abortion services.

The measure also created an abortion care training program and required state funding of $3.5 million per year.

The law also aims to provide equal access to abortion insurance, whether with private insurance or Medicaid. It would require private insurance plans, with the exception of legally exempt ones, to cover abortion care and not share costs or deductibles.

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