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Sarah Strickland of Robbinston worked as a clinic assistant for Planned Parenthood in Toledo, Ohio. She has been an active volunteer for reproductive rights organizations for the past 55 years.
Today, across the United States, women’s health care and our reproductive rights are under attack in brutal and unimaginable ways. I believe Mainers must have the opportunity to vote on whether to enshrine our current reproductive rights and autonomy into the state Constitution to protect the rights we have from being taken away from us because of a future election that changes the roster of politicians in Augusta.
LD 780 is a resolution that proposes a constitutional amendment to protect personal reproductive autonomy: “Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to declare that every person has a right to personal reproductive autonomy?”
The resolution is out of committee and will be voted on by the full Maine Senate first, and then the Maine House of Representatives. These elected individuals will decide if they want to let Mainers vote on LD 780 at the November election.
I am 70 years old and have enjoyed reproductive health freedoms and autonomy since I was in my early 20s. I remember very clearly when I was able to obtain my first birth control pills without comment from a physician, and when my friends and I could legally obtain an abortion, which I took advantage of in 1977 when I was beginning my career and not prepared to be a mother. These life-changing decisions were mine to make, and like millions of women across this country, we had the autonomy to do so until the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022.
I want every person’s reproductive autonomy in Maine enshrined in our state Constitution, and I want every Maine voter to have the opportunity to vote in November on LD 780. I want a two-thirds majority of Maine senators and representatives to pass LD 780 so you and I can do just that.
I believe that the Maine Senate and its 35 members (and all lawmakers in Augusta) are bound by their oath of office and their responsibility to Mainers to pass LD 780 and place the decision to add the permanent right to reproductive autonomy into the good judgment and common sense of Maine’s voters at the November election.
Please add your voice to the Senate’s deliberations by contacting your senator and demanding that Maine voters be able to exercise their fundamental right to vote on this critical constitutional amendment guaranteeing reproductive health and autonomy for all Mainers.
