A constitutional amendment in Maine that would have legalized abortions up to birth failed to get enough votes in the state legislature to be able to qualify for the ballot.
A proposed amendment to a state health care bill, LD 277, would enshrine abortion “activity” in state law as a legal right, prohibit “interference” with abortion, and would allow countersuits against anyone out-of-state who files litigation against anyone receiving, assisting with, or performing an abortion.
But the amendment failed to get two-thirds support in the state Senate, with all Republicans withholding the votes that will be necessary to get the item to the November ballot.
The resolution from Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, would ask voters whether they favor amending the Constitution “to declare that every person has a right to reproductive autonomy” — a vague and misleading way to support abortions without limits.The Senate endorsed it 20-13 but that was ahsort of the supermajority needed.
Before the vote, Chelsey Youman, National Policy Advisor for Human Coalition Action, issued the following statement in opposition to the proposed amendment:
“In addition to preborn children, this extreme proposal places women and girls at risk by protecting even criminal abuse and medical malpractice for abortion. Abortion providers, abusive partners and human traffickers would not only have zero accountability for injuring or even killing women through negligence or forced abortions, but the bill would protect their heinous conduct in Maine.
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“Without exceptions to allow injured women or their loved ones to have legal recourse for injury or death resulting from negligent or coerced abortion, the broad bill provides a complete shield to criminal actors, empowering them to perpetuate their crimes as long as the abortions are ordered from Maine. We already know that women suffer serious injuries or even death from negligent abortion providers; we already know that women being trafficked suffer forced abortions; and we also know that abusers have taken advantage of readily available abortion drugs to covertly poison their partners’ food and induce abortion. Now, thanks to this proposal, traffickers and abusers would not only have immunity for their crimes, they would be able to sue anyone who tries to stop them.
“We are grateful to Rep. Reagan Paul for her courage in defense of innocent women and children and for her principled opposition to this disgusting legislation. Every person, whether a child in the womb or a vulnerable woman, has invaluable worth. We staunchly oppose any legislation such as this one that treats women and their children as disposable.”
By protecting all abortion “activity” as a legal “right,” the proposed legislation would also override limits on abortion, such as by upholding taxpayer-funded abortion, preventing parents from interfering with their minor child’s decision to have an abortion, and requiring employers – including religious institutions opposed to abortion – to cover abortions in employee health plans.
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Author: Steven Ertelt
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