Abortion is health care. Every man, woman, and child needs the women in their lives to have an abortion when she decides it is in the best interest of herself or her family. No one, except those who want to take away a woman’s right to choose, would want any woman to forgo any medical procedure that was in the best interest of the woman and her family.
When a woman is forced by law to carry a pregnancy to term — a pregnancy that the woman wants to terminate — the harm to her emotional well-being and her family’s economic hardship can be devastating. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, freedom-loving abortion advocates have been pushing back.
Pro-choice activists successfully overturned laws proposing a total ban on abortions in three states, abortion is legal in 25 states before viability (24-26 weeks), six states have no restrictions on gestational periods, and Maine is moving in that direction. These states place the decision to have an abortion, or any other medical procedure, where it should be: in the hands of the patient and her doctor.
Historically, the opposition to eliminating gestational age bans, as happened in Maine, has nothing to do with the sanctity of life, and never did, as opposition proponents claim. Opposing late-term abortions is, and always has been, about ending all abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “Gestational age bans have long been a favored tactic of antiabortion activists and politicians as they (successfully overturned) the constitutional right to abortion.”
The Guttmacher Institute — a primary source for research and policy analysis on abortion in the United States — shows that 66% of abortions occur in the first eight weeks, 89% occur in the first 12 weeks, and only 1.3% occur after the 21st week.
The most common reason for late-term abortion is a fetal abnormality that prevents long-term survival. However, those who oppose late-term abortions don’t care what the facts are; they only care about their religiously motivated political agenda. Guttmacher Institute’s senior state issues manager Elizabeth Nash says, “The antiabortion movement has long been an evidence-free zone, and many of its signature initiatives and proposals are devoid of any factual foundation.”
Deciding whether to have an abortion or not is a personal decision every woman must be able to make for herself. Getting an abortion when necessary, regardless of gestational period, is essential in allowing patients and physicians to decide what scientifically established medical procedures are appropriate. I cannot think of a worse example of the government forcing itself between patients and their physicians than when complete women’s health care is restricted or denied.
Maine is on solid legal grounds in eliminating gestational age bans. First, the Supreme Court ruled that abortions are a state matter. Second, the Supreme Court’s current standard (should the court decide to follow it) lets states allow abortions after fetal viability if the mother’s life and health (both physical and mental) are in danger. Under this legal standard, fetal viability and the patient’s health are at the discretion of the patient’s physician. Additionally, states may not require additional physicians to confirm an attending physician’s judgment that the patient’s life or health is at risk.
After Roe v. Wade recognized a woman’s constitutional right to choose, Maine showed it was forward-thinking by passing the Freedom of Choice Act in 1979 and reaffirming that act in 1993. Eliminating gestational period abortion restrictions keeps Maine near the top of states that protect a woman’s right to choose. The next step is for Maine to have a constitutional amendment that will protect abortion rights for the foreseeable future.
I applaud the Maine Legislature and governor for passing and signing L.D. 1619, An Act to Improve Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Laws, a law that eliminates gestational restrictions in Maine.
Sen. Anne Carney of Cape Elizabeth got it right when she said, “What the (law) is really about is ensuring that women and families get the most compassionate health care they can — and the most accurate, medically necessary health care within the medical standards of care, in these tragic circumstances.”
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