The Democratic effort to amend Maine’s Constitution to protect the abortion industry is on life-support after failing to get a supermajority of support in the State Senate Monday.
The legislation proposing the amendment that would enshrine a “right to abortion” advanced along partisan lines, but the measure failed to get the two-thirds support it will ultimately need to appear before voters on the ballot this November for final approval.
LD 780 — sponsored by Sen. Eloise Vitelli (D-Sagadahoc) — was introduced during the 131st Legislature’s first session and carried over to this year for consideration.
If approved, this amendment would declare that “every person has a right to reproductive autonomy” that may not be “den[ied] or infringe[d]” upon by the “State nor any political subdivision of the State.”
The proposed amendment reads in full:
Every person has a right to reproductive autonomy. Neither the State nor any political subdivision of the State may deny or infringe on a person’s right to reproductive autonomy unless the denial or infringement is justified by a compelling state interest and is accomplished using the least restrictive means necessary. Nothing in this section narrows or limits a person’s right to privacy or equal protection.
For purposes of this section, the State’s or a political subdivision’s interest in denying or infringing on a person’s right to reproductive autonomy is “compelling” only if it is for the limited purpose of protecting the health of the person seeking care, is consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine and does not infringe on the person’s autonomous decision making.
[RELATED: Mainers Gather for Public Hearing on Amendment Enshrining Abortion in State Constitution]
Although the majority of Senators present Monday voted in support of LD 780 — meaning that it will continue to advance and face further votes in the Legislature — the results are indicative that it will struggle to gain the two-thirds support required by Article X, Section 4 of the Maine Constitution to put this amendment before voters in November.
While all Republican members of the Senate voted in opposition to this resolution, all Democrats who were presented voted in support. Two Democrats — Sen. Henry Ingwersen (D-York) and Sen. Teresa Pierce (D-Cumberland) — were excused and did not participate in Monday’s vote.
This same stark partisan divide emerged when this bill was up for consideration by the Judiciary Committee last month.
Gov. Janet Mills (D) publicly endorsed the proposed amendment earlier this year, despite promising multiple times during her re-election bid against former Republican Gov. Paul LePage that she would seek no changes to Maine’s abortion restrictions.
In contravention of those multiple campaign promises, Gov. Mills went on to sign LD 1619 last session, a new law that allows abortion for any reason up until the moment of birth.
The same Democratic senators who are now backing the proposed constitutional amendment also scuttled an amendment to LD 1619 that would have placed a four-year moratorium on the sale of fetal remains for research purposes.
[RELATED: Janet Mills Endorses Planned Parenthood-Backed Abortion Amendment to Maine Constitution]
As of now, four other states have adopted constitutional amendments similar to that which is under consideration in Maine, including: Ohio, California, Michigan, and Vermont.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27090 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27090">5 Comments
(democrats mantra) KILL! KILL! KILL!
Right to an abortion, but not a right to refuse a vaccine to go to school or to keep a job.
What happened to saying NO to having sex? Or using birth control? And if you decide to have sexual intercourse are you prepared to take responsibility for the consequences? Is the man going to share that responsibility?
Mills Kills!!! Had Eloise Vitelli been aborted we’d all be better off. Especially those little babies her and Mills want to kill.
When you speak to Democrat voters make it clear to them. The abortion issue has NOTHING to do with “women’s rights”. Abortion is an industry. It’s about the money America’s corrupt medical industry makes off this industry.
It’s the same with “gender affirming care”. When a child is transitioned, the medical industry and big pharma get’s a lifetime patient. Democrats are pure evil.