Those for and against the expansion of abortion rights in Maine packed the State House Monday, with both sides offering emotional arguments in a bid to sway lawmakers to their side.
Gov. Janet Mills and more than 90 Democrats have signed on to a bill to allow women in Maine to get abortions later in pregnancy with a physician’s permission.
With Democrats in control of the House and Senate, the bill is likely to pass and be signed into law by Mills.
Yet that didn’t deter hundreds — perhaps well over 1,000 — from traveling to the state capitol to oppose the measure, waiting in long lines in the rain outside the State House to get through security and waiting again once they got inside as they signed up to testify.
“I’m here to stand up for right-to-life, babies being protected no matter what gestation they are,” Leah Marks of Topsham said as she stood in the rain outside. “Her bill is extreme to the tenth degree. It is so extreme. No limitations at all?”
Before the public hearing, Mills laid out the reasoning behind her decision to introduce the bill despite saying during the fall campaign that she didn’t see a reason to expand abortion access.
She said Democrats and Republicans voted for a bill in 1993 to put a right to an abortion in state law. But nearly three decades later, the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the constitutionally protected right to an abortion has prompted 16 states to ban nearly all abortions.
She spoke about the case of a Yarmouth woman who was forced to travel to Colorado after finding out in her 32nd week of pregnancy that her baby had a rare and deadly genetic disorder.
She said 92% of all abortions in Maine occur by the 12th week of pregnancy and that abortions after 21 weeks are “extremely rare.” National statistics show they represent fewer than 1% of all abortions.
“What is extreme is forcing a woman to give birth to a child who is going to immediately die,” Mills said. “What is extreme is forcing a woman to leave the state to seek health care. This bill is a reasonable, limited and compassionate response to address rare and heartbreaking situations.”
During the public hearing, Republicans on the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee grilled House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) about whether the bill would allow a healthy woman with a healthy baby to have an abortion if a doctor gives permission.
“Those decisions are between that individual who is pregnant and their trusted physician,” Talbot Ross said. “I am not going to guess as to all circumstances in which those decisions are made. These are deeply personal, painful decisions people have to make. These are not cavalier decisions.”
At a rally prior to the hearing, opponents of the bill quoted scripture and vowed to stay in the State House as long as necessary to try to convince lawmakers to reject the legislation.
“Gov. Mills may be the governor of this state, but we say, governor, you’re wrong,” Barbara Ford, executive director of Shepherd’s Godparent Home in Bangor said. “We will not stand by as we make Maine a sanctuary for abortion.”