The Maryland Green Party urges state legislators to prioritize guaranteeing the right to contraception and abortion in the state's Constitution. Vermont passed a similar amendment proposal - Proposition 5 - earlier this year, which will go before Vermont voters this fall.
“As an elder, I’ve been working for reproductive rights for nearly 50 years in Maryland, and we’re losing ground instead of making progress. We need a party that’s serious about protecting access to birth control and abortion as medical options–and that’s the Green Party,” said Maryland Green Party co-chair Mary Rooker.
The Green Party has defined health care - including abortion care - as a human right since the party's initial platform in 2000. The Green Party continues to unequivocally support reproductive freedom, including contraception and legal abortion.
While Maryland is considered protective of abortion rights, it is vital to protect abortion rights and Maryland abortion providers through a Constitutional amendment protecting the procedure. Recent laws and bills in states such as Texas and Missouri target both in-state and out-of-state abortion providers with criminal and civil liability for providing abortion services. The Abortion Care Access Act passed over Governor Hogan's veto on April 9 does nothing to address this new conservative strategy.
Maryland must act to protect abortion providers by amending its Constitution to give the highest level of protection to abortion care and take further action to protect Maryland abortion providers from legal liability for providing abortion care.
In addition to amending its Constitution to protect contraception and abortion, Maryland should join California and Connecticut in proposing bills to protect Maryland abortion providers from lawsuits filed by out-of-state abortion opponents. According to David Cohen, a professor at Drexel University, "states should enact laws that block law enforcement agencies from cooperating with civil or criminal out-of-state investigations related to the legal provision of abortion in their states".
The Maryland Green Party urges state legislators to pursue the highest protections for reproductive freedom by working to amend the state Constitution to protect contraception and abortion care.