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Julia McDonald is the medical director of abortion services at Mabel Wadsworth Center in Bangor. They were Maine’s 2019 Physician of the Year and will be inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in March.
Like so many Mainers, I love our proximity to woods and water. When I am not on call at the hospital or working at a clinic, I spend time outside. The other day, I skied across a snow-covered lake to bring an extra loaf of my sourdough bread to a neighbor across the way. As I set out, I tossed a couple pucks to some kids skating on a patch of ice I cleared in front of my house.
What a day in Maine! The sun shone against the snow and the sky glowed deep sapphire. Families dotted the ice, fishing, visiting, riding snowmobiles. As I skied, I thought about LD 780, a bill proposing a constitutional amendment for reproductive autonomy. Suddenly, a bald eagle took wing from a pine and swooped across the frozen field, over my head and up toward the sun. A perfect symbol for freedom!
I deliver babies, provide abortions and take care of families here in Maine and around the world. I know what communities look like when the basic human rights of bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom are removed.
After the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, I took care of patients in New Mexico who traveled hundreds of miles from states that banned abortions for abortion care. They each knew the right decision for themselves, their families and their futures, but lawmakers in this very country eradicated their freedom with bans. Internationally, with Doctors Without Borders, I provide safe abortion care and contraception in countries that restrict the rights of girls and women.
Across state lines, in all cultures and throughout the world, I witness basic, incontrovertible facts: Humans have sex. People want to plan and time their pregnancies. Contraception can help families space pregnancies. And even with perfect contraception and timing, unintended, unplanned or unhealthy pregnancies occur, necessitating safe abortion care.
I have found these truths to be self-evident, regardless of state, country or law. But, over time, I’ve also seen that lawmakers change who then change laws. And when laws remove protections for health care and freedom of bodily autonomy, women and people who can get pregnant suffer. Families suffer. And communities, especially those disproportionately underrepresented in government, bear the brunt of the injustice.
In Maine, our government has long protected our right to access education, contraception and reproductive health care. Sometimes “stories from away” seem as distant from our lives here in Maine as skiers and ice-fishers on a snow field must seem to a soaring eagle, but these situations represent real people. Current times represent a real threat to Americans and Mainers.
LD 780 is a bill to protect the future of our freedom. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat or independent, pro-abortion or anti-abortion, this bill will ensure your own autonomy in making decisions about your body. Want a vasectomy? That’s your right. Do you need reproductive technology to get pregnant? That is an example of personal reproductive autonomy. Gender-affirming care? Also personal autonomy. I believe health care is a human right. Reproductive care is health care. Everyone should have freedom and autonomy over their own bodies.
The question of reproductive freedom is kind of like public access to Maine’s beautiful lakes. Everybody gets to do what is right for them. In the winter, some people fish, others skate, some ride snowmobiles and others ski. Still others stay inside! None of us have to love what the others are doing, but we can appreciate the shared experience of our neighbors, each living their individual best life.
For lawmakers, a vote of “ought to pass” on LD 780 supports direct democracy. A lawmaker who votes against LD 780, I believe, is telling their constituents (in an election year!) that they do not believe voters should have their voices heard in the most direct way possible — at the ballot box. I urge all lawmakers to vote “ought to pass” on LD 780.
