By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

Beginning when early voting opens Oct. 24, Maryland voters will decide this Election Day whether to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.

If approved, the ballot referendum would establish reproductive freedom as a “fundamental right,” including a mother’s right to prevent, continue, or end a pregnancy.

“The state many not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least-restrictive means,” according to the text of the proposed amendment.

The statewide referendum – which will appear as Question 1 on the ballot – was set in motion by a bill during the General Assembly’s 2023 legislative session, the result of which puts the question to voters.

That initiative was sponsored by the legislature’s highest levels of leadership, House Speaker Adrianne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, both Democrats. Both the House and Senate passed the bill on party-line votes, and the measure was signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore.

Local legislators who opposed the measure included Del. Wayne Hartman (R-38C), former Del. Carl Anderton (R-38B), Del. Chris Adams (R-37B), and Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-38).

Carozza in an interview said she objects to the fact that neither the ballot question nor the amendment mention age limits or parental notifications for abortions – the word “adult” does not appear in the amendment, she noted – which she and her Republican colleagues unsuccessfully attempted to include in the bill’s language.

“You can be pro-choice and vote against Question 1,” she said. “When I talk to certain constituents and talk through the issue, some who support abortion believe at the same time there should be limits to abortion, which this amendment would preclude. They also are concerned about their parental rights.”

Carozza also noted that, while other states have tightened restrictions on reproductive rights, Maryland “went the other direction and expanded the rules, by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions. Already in Maryland law, there’s no limit, all the way up to birth. This amendment, in essence, has no limits.”

Existing Maryland law states that abortions must be performed by a “qualified provider” like a doctor, nurse practitioner, or midwife, according to a legislative analysis. Such medical providers are not liable for civil damages or criminal penalties if an abortion is “made in good faith and in the qualified provider’s best clinical judgement using accepted standards of clinical practice.”

The referendum comes as a direct result of the Supreme Court voting to end federal oversight of abortion rights in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson case. The justices in Dobbs held that the Constitution does not confer abortion rights, which overturned the landmark 1973 case of Roe v. Wade.

The Dobbs ruling set the stage for state lawmakers across the country to enact their own abortion plans.

As of January 2023, there are 14 states where abortion bans are in place. Another nine states have abortion bans on hold, and several others are currently challenging abortion bans in state courts, according to an analysis by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services.

Maryland would join 17 states and the District of Columbia as states where the right to abortion is protected by law. Voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont already have approved ballot initiatives that establish the right to abortions in their respective state constitutions.