STATE

Abortion could be on Maryland's 2024 ballot. Find out why, and about more measures

Dwight A. Weingarten
The Herald-Mail

Gov. Wes Moore and the leaders of both the state House and Senate announced their support Thursday for four bills relating to abortion, including legislation that would put a constitutional amendment before Maryland voters in 2024.

The legislature failed to advance a similar bill last session prior to the last summer’s Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision. That measure passed the House, but failed to advance in the Senate and was not brought before the state’s voters in the fall. 

Now, House Speaker Adrienne Jones, D-Baltimore County, has brought the legislation back, and the bill has both the support of the state’s new governor and the Senate president.

Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, D-Baltimore County, speaks in favor legislation, including a constitutional amendment in support of abortion, in the State House in Annapolis on Feb. 9, 2023. Jones' bill on the amendment did not become law last legislative session.

“As long as I am governor of Maryland, our state will be a safe haven for abortion rights,” said Moore, a Democrat, during a news conference outside the old House and Senate chambers. Moore was flanked by dozens of legislators, including Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, who also spoke in support of the legislation.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the precedent of a constitutional right to privacy last year, states across the country have been turning to their own lawbooks to rewrite their statutes. Abortion is legal in Maryland and has been since 1992.

More:What does overturning Roe v Wade mean for Maryland

Senate Republican questions constitutional amendment

In a largely preemptive move in 1991, the Maryland Legislature approved measures to protect a woman’s decision to have such a procedure should the highest court in the land ever overturn Roe v. Wade. Voters approved the measure in 1992 with 62% of the vote.

The proposed amendment the governor announced his support for on Thursday would not change the legality of abortion in Maryland. The amendment would require that any future changes must also receive not just legislative approval, but a constitutional change.

The Senate Republican leader questioned whether the state constitution is the place for the issue.  

“We’ve seen a growing number of changes to the constitution with respect to legalization of marijuana last year, sports betting/casino gambling,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Hershey Jr., R-Upper Shore, in a State House interview prior to the news conference. “The Maryland Constitution is not the place for those issues, nor is it the place for this issue.”

The previous governor, Republican Larry Hogan, personally opposed abortion, but considered the issue “settled law” in Maryland during his first campaign for governor in 2014. Moore said he would back the amendment during the general election season’s sole debate in October.

Governor Wes Moore speaks in favor of legislation, including a bill to bring the issue of abortion before the state's voters next fall, in the State House in Annapolis on Feb. 9, 2023. Moore and Lt. Governor Aruna Miller did not take questions at the press conference.

A change in the abortion landscape

The other pieces of legislation discussed at the news conference with Democratic lawmakers included bills on access, patient privacy, and protections for out of state patients.

A trio of Republican lawmakers responded to the Democratic legislators announcement.

“When preborn life is so easily discarded, we are not working in the best interest of ALL Marylanders,” said Republican Dels. Kathy Szeliga, Ryan Nawrocki, and Lauren Arikan, representing Baltimore and Harford counties, in a statement.

The Supreme Court decision is not the only change to the landscape on the issue in recent years. A report showed over half of abortions nationwide in 2020 were medication abortions.

The most recent yearly data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy non-governmental organization, showed about 29,800 abortions in Maryland, representing 3.5 percent of the total in the United States.

The state funded 9,864 abortions under the Medical Assistance Program at a total cost of $6.5 million in 2020, according to state budget documents

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.