Abortion entry in Maine is not going to be altering for now within the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s Friday ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution.
Roughly half of states have been poised to ban or prohibit abortion entry within the occasion that the case’s precedent was overturned, in response to the Guttmacher Institute. That consequence is all however sure after the excessive court docket launched its anticipated resolution 5-4 within the Dobbs v Jackson Ladies’s Well being case, upholding a 15 week ban on abortions in Mississippi and sending the choice of whether or not abortion is allowed again to the states.
Maine has a few of the strongest abortion rights legal guidelines within the nation, which began when Roe v. Wade was codified into state legislation in 1994 by then-Gov. John McKernan, a Republican. That’s unlikely to vary until there are important shifts within the Democratic-controlled Legislature within the 2022 election.
Gov. Janet Mills vowed to guard these rights instantly after the choice was launched. She faces reelection this 12 months in opposition to former Gov. Paul LePage, an anti-abortion Republican who positioned the financial system on the entrance of his problem to Mills.
Maine permits for abortions up till the purpose of fetus viability, which is often thought of to be round 24 weeks, with exceptions previous that if the dad or mum’s life is in peril. The state now requires personal insurance coverage and Medicaid to cowl abortions underneath a 2019 legislation backed by Mills.
Minors are allowed to get abortions with the knowledgeable, written consent of a dad or mum, guardian or grownup member of the family, a decide or a licensed supplier, corresponding to a health care provider, nurse or counselor who has supplied counseling. A member of the family or guardian will not be required if any of the latter choices are granted. They have to consent to an abortion, until their life is in peril.
Republicans will possible attempt to slowly chip away at these legal guidelines subsequent 12 months in the event that they win management of Augusta. That might embrace rolling again abortion-rights expansions underneath Mills, though Maine has polled as one of many states most supportive of abortion rights.
The Legislature has been supportive of abortion rights underneath Democratic management, with two-thirds of the social gathering’s members getting one hundred pc scores from the Deliberate Parenthood Maine Motion Fund, a marketing campaign arm of the group’s New England chapter. Maine’s legislative races are anticipated to be tight this 12 months throughout a midterm election for President Joe Biden.
