The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
Nicole Clegg is the interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
Today, several bills passed by Maine legislators become law. These new laws demonstrate how the state of Maine trusts patients and providers to make private medical decisions without political interference.
The laws became a reality because Mainers value reproductive freedom. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Mainers voted, volunteered, organized, rallied and shared their deeply personal stories to protect and expand access to legal abortion while other states enacted harmful and deeply unpopular bans on this medical procedure. Today, 22 states have bans or near total bans on abortion. One in 3 women have no right to abortion care in their home state.
The post-Roe landscape is harrowing, with patients suffering at the hands of politicians, providers criminalized for offering care and attacks on our rights are ongoing. The harsh reality is that people most disenfranchised by these harmful policies are people of color, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities and those struggling financially.
People who oppose abortion should know they are out of step with medical science and with the American public. They’re scrambling, it seems, to rebrand their agenda and have escalated attacks on the democratic process itself in order to thwart the will of the people. But Mainers likely aren’t fooled.
With the new laws taking effect today, we are fortunate to have strong state-level protections in place, protections that will ensure Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and other reproductive health care providers can continue to offer essential care to our patients.
LD 1619 may have received the most media attention during this past legislative session, but it was one piece in a comprehensive response to the loss of Roe. Starting with the executive order Gov. Janet Mills issued shortly after the Dobbs decision, Maine leaders have been working on all fronts to protect access to our reproductive rights and freedoms.
Attorney General Frey has been leading in the courts with Maine joining cases aimed at protecting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of the pills used for medication abortion; blocking former President Donald Trump’s gag rule on family planning funds; and thwarting efforts from states like Idaho where legislators passed laws aimed at reaching into Maine to target our clinicians.
Mills partnered with House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross and Senate President Troy Jackson to advance legislation that removed old crimes attached to abortion and to expand privacy protections in abortion data collection. That legislation addressed a failing in Maine law to ensure that people who need abortion later in pregnancy don’t have to leave the state, their loved ones and medical team to get necessary care.
One of Bangor’s state representatives, Laura Supica, introduced legislation to ensure the right to abortion is protected for people in all Maine cities and towns and not threatened by extremists who want to ban abortion by attempting to pass local laws targeting abortion providers. Maine lawmakers also passed legislation to protect clinicians who provide abortion; to ensure the availability of sexual and reproductive health care in the event of a merger or acquisition by a religious-affiliated health care provider; to expand insurance coverage of birth control; and to increase affordability by prohibiting insurers from requiring patients meet deductibles or other cost sharing fees before they will cover care.
I am grateful for everyone who helped make today possible. To the patients who shared their personal stories, to the providers who spoke up to lead with science and compassion, to the faith leaders who respect the moral capacity of pregnant people and their providers to make decisions about the best path forward, to volunteers and to coalition partners and allies, and finally, to the lawmakers who championed and voted for these evidence-based policies: Thank you. You have made sure that even in these unprecedented times, Maine continues to move forward.