AUGUSTA, Maine — The Democratic-led Legislature’s passage of a bill allowing doctors to perform abortions they deem necessary after Maine’s viability cutoff around 24 weeks drew plenty of emotional debate.
But for all the controversy over Gov. Janet Mills’ measure, Maine’s abortion providers and health care systems anticipate only making fairly minor changes to their operations once the law takes effect in October.
That’s largely because post-viability abortions are relatively rare, with the vast majority of abortions in Maine and other states occurring in the first trimester. No abortions in Maine after 20 weeks have been recorded since 2016, according to state data.
Providers instead said the main change will relate to an increased ability to refer patients to in-state physicians instead of those in other states. Mills, a Democrat, cited that as a primary reason in unveiling her idea in January, sharing the story of a Yarmouth woman who traveled to Colorado in 2019 for an abortion after discovering at 32 weeks that her fetus had a fatal condition.
Out-of-state options are “not accessible for many people and lead to patients being forced to continue pregnancies,” said Aspen Ruhlin, community engagement coordinator for the Mabel Wadsworth Center, which provides abortion and other health care services in Bangor.
“The impact on staff will largely be needing to keep this referral list updated and decreased stress for patients when we need to refer them to other abortion care providers,” Ruhlin said.
Mareisa Weil, vice president of development and community engagement for Maine Family Planning, a provider with 18 clinics around the state, said the new law “will alleviate some suffering and hardship for folks who need abortion care later in their pregnancies.”
Another less-discussed change under the new law is a provision to shield the names or other identifying information of patients in abortion reports submitted to the state. The questions previously required for reports were stigmatizing and could lead to patient identification in small towns, Ruhlin said.
Providers also pointed to other bills from Democratic lawmakers that Mills signed into law this year, including measures to require private insurers to cover abortion services, prevent medical malpractice insurers from going after abortion providers in Maine based on laws in other states and bar towns and cities from passing their own ordinances to restrict abortion.
The insurance coverage change is “going to have a pretty significant impact” on patients who would otherwise need to pay at least several hundred dollars for abortion services, Nicole Clegg, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said.
While deciding against a people’s veto effort to try to overturn the governor’s measure at the ballot box, opponents have continued to criticize the various bills and have signaled a desire to continue to bring up the issue while supporting anti-abortion candidates in 2024 elections.
“I believe Maine’s abortion industry will continue to struggle to procure medical professionals willing to abort viable babies,” Carroll Conley, executive director of the conservative Christian Civic League of Maine, said.
Maine’s major health care systems indicated they will not need to make any significant changes to comply with the new law: “Our providers will comply with the new law’s requirements and will continue to give our patients a voice in their health care decisions,” MaineHealth spokesperson Caroline Cornish said.
Northern Light Health spokesperson Suzanne Spruce similarly said clinical leaders will review the new laws and that the system is focused on “ensuring that all Mainers have access to the care they need to live long, healthy lives.”