AUGUSTA, Maine — The bill from Gov. Janet Mills to allow doctors to perform abortions they deem necessary after Maine’s viability cutoff of around 24 weeks will soon end up on her desk, as the House of Representatives voted Tuesday to enact the measure.
The House vote was expectedly tight, with the chamber passing it by a 73-69 margin shortly after 9 pm. Tuesday.
The highly watched, emotional debate and vote came after the Senate approved the bill earlier Tuesday, with Sen. Craig Hickman of Winthrop the lone Democrat to oppose it. After it goes back to the Senate for a final enactment vote, Mills will be able to sign her measure into law.
The House gave initial approval to it last week in a 74-72 vote that came late at night after Democrats stopped debate for nearly five hours to try to ensure they had the votes and to mull a late amendment that was ultimately defeated.
That amendment from Rep. Ben Collings, D-Portland, an ardent progressive, would have limited post-viability abortions to cases of fetal fetal abnormalities or if the life and health of the mother were in danger. Collings was among nine members — three Democrats, five Republicans and independent Rep. Walter Riseman of Harrison — not present for Tuesday’s vote, which stayed open for the allowed limit of 30 minutes.
Democrats in the Senate defeated similar amendments from Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, that also would have banned the sale or transfer of fetal remains, except for burial or cremation purposes.
Absences affected both last week’s and this week’s votes, as two of the seven Democrats who did not cosponsor the bill were not present for either roll call.
In January, Mills unveiled the bills along with other abortion-rights measures after the Democrat said during her 2022 reelection campaign she wanted no changes to existing abortion laws.
The bill has drawn passionate and at-times graphic debate since. Maine’s Catholic bishop called it “radical and extreme,” and in early May hundreds of opponents of the bill — along with a smaller number of abortion-rights advocates — filled the State House for a hearing that ran 19 hours.
On Tuesday, smaller but still sizable crowds featuring mostly opponents of the bill but several supporters were lining the hallways of the State House and filling the House gallery, with some joining along with Rep. Jim Thorne, R-Carmel, as he recited the Lord’s Prayer for his floor speech.
In the hours leading up to the vote, anti-abortion onlookers in the hallway chanted “kill the bill,” sang hymns and prayed together.
The contentious nature of the issue has been on display not only in Augusta. Over the weekend, Portland police were called to the home of House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, after anti-abortion flyers and chalk messages were left near her residence.
In introducing the bill, Mills highlighted the story of a Maine woman who discovered at 32 weeks her fetus had a condition that would cause it to die shortly after birth. The woman had to travel to Colorado, where the abortion was legal at that stage, and the Democratic governor said the bill was aimed at those situations.
Post-viability abortions are relatively rare. The vast majority of abortions in Maine and nationally come in the first trimester. No abortions occurred in Maine after 20 weeks in 2021, per state data. In Colorado, which allows post-viability abortions, around 1.5 percent of abortions in the same year came at 21 weeks or later.
“When expecting parents well into their pregnancy receive devastating medical news, they need compassion and understanding in that moment,” Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, said. “They need support and love. More than anything, they need to be able to trust that our laws will protect them and allow them to receive the medical care they need close to home.”
While nearly every Democrat cosponsored the bill, a few members of the majority party joined Republicans in opposing it.
This year’s debate served as a reminder the Legislature features anti-abortion Democrats and abortion-rights Republicans in a state where the Catholic church is a major institution.
But Republican Reps. Lucas Lanigan of Sanford and Rep. David Boyer of Poland said while they each generally support a woman’s right to an abortion, they agreed with opponents who believe the bill goes too far or is not specific enough in defining “necessary” situations.
“Maine people are moderate,” Rep. Dick Bradstreet, R-Vassalboro, said. “They don’t want things like this to come before them.”
Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, argued earlier in the day that the current viability cutoff has been sufficient and unchanged since a landmark 1993 law codified federal, Roe v. Wade-era protections in Maine. Bennett, who served in the House that year, cosponsored that 1993 proposal and then-Gov. John McKernan, a Republican, supported it.
Democratic lawmakers and groups like Planned Parenthood that support the bill have said it will protect abortion access in Maine as numerous other states have passed restrictions following last summer’s Supreme Court decision that overturned the federal right to abortion.
And supporters noted an amendment to the bill says doctors performing abortions must operate under the “standard of care” in making a professional judgment, with clarification that performing an abortion without proper licensure is a Class E misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, with additional penalties possible under existing laws.
While Republican-backed bills to restrict abortion access have failed this session, several other abortion-rights proposals from Democrats have cleared both chambers, including bills to prevent Maine cities and towns from restricting abortion in their jurisdictions, require private insurers to cover abortion services and prevent medical malpractice insurers from taking action against abortion providers based on anti-abortion laws in other states
A February poll of Mainers by the University of New Hampshire found 52 percent support for the governor’s bill. National polls, including one by the Associated Press in 2021, have shown opposition for abortions late in pregnancy but also support for them in the case of serious fetal abnormalities.
