About
The Reproductive Freedom Amendment is coming. Vote NO on Question 1.
Marylanders are not aware that violence is about to be enshrined as a right in their state constitution. The so-called right to an abortion under the guise of "reproductive freedom" will be on the ballot this November.
History of the RFA
In 2018, then Speaker of the House Michael Busch (D-Anne Arundel County) vowed to add the right to "terminate a pregnancy" to the state constitution of Maryland to ensure that a woman's right to choose was "never up for debate". In 2019, the first iteration of the abortion amendment was introduced in the Maryland General Assembly, but quickly withdrawn after swift voter backlash. After Speaker Busch's untimely death that same year, his successor, Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) made the passage of the abortion amendment one of her top priorities. After attempts to pass the bill in 2020 and 2022 were resoundingly defeated due to grassroots citizen-lobbying, the insidious "Right to Reproductive Freedom" Amendment was passed in the 2023 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session and signed by Governor Wes Moore. The right to an abortion at any stage, for any reason, will be up for direct vote by the people of Maryland on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Is abortion still legal in Maryland?
Yes, abortion is legal through all trimesters in Maryland. That is because our current statute, the Freedom of Choice Act, was designed to withstand an overturn of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling which was the prevailing "law of the land" until 2022. When the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Roe was wrongly decided and overturned its precedent in Dobbs vs. Jackson, there was no abortion clinic that ceased operations in our state. In fact, thanks to an abortion expansion bill in that same year, abortion clinics are actually opening at an alarming rate, including a new clinic in Prince George's County that advertises abortions through the 3rd trimester (28 weeks gestation and later).
The current abortion law in Maryland allows for abortions for any reason until viability, but allows abortions after viability for rape, life of the mother, health of the mother (including mental health), and fetal disabilty. The abortionist gets to decided viability and the necessity of an abortion for any of the allowable exceptions. The statute (Md. Code Ann., Health-Gen. § 20-209) removes liability from the doctor if acting in "good faith". There are very few regulations of the abortion industry in Maryland and so violations of the Freedom of Choice Act routinely go without investigation.
In addition to the most permissible abortion statute in the nation, Maryland law also allows the abortionist to decide whether a minor child's parents should be notified of their abortion, forces all insurance plans to cover abortions without copay, and even uses taxpayer funding to train abortionists in medical school.
What will the RFA accomplish if passed?
While abortion will remain legal and available through all trimesters in Maryland whether the RFA/Question 1 passes, the consequences of the amendment will be devastating for citizens who wish to remain free from violence in their daily lives. The impact of the Reproductive Freedom Amendment threatens to:
- Enshrine the right to an abortion, even late-term abortion, into the constitution
- Challenge the existence of life-affirming pregnancy centers which help women in crisis pregnancies
- Deregulate the abortion industry so that clinics have even less oversight of health and safety standards
- Threaten conscience protections for doctors, nurses, and hospitals which refuse to commit abortions due to faith-based objections
- Expand the control of "reproductive freedom" into the perinatal period
Vote NO on Question 1.
If the right to an abortion is enshrined into the Maryland state constition as a human right, no Marylander will be able to "opt-out" of living under a regime of violence. Once a right, it cannot be abridged and will be expanded and subsidized by tax payers. This extremist position on abortion is contradictory to abundant public opinion polling which affirms that while a majority of Americans view abortion availability as necessary, that same majority believes it should have reasonable limitations. The RFA/Question 1 will add a right to abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy - a procedure which is risky to the woman and always lethal for the baby.
