AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine women's groups have identified four priority bills they'll support this legislative session.
The chair of the Maine Choice Coalition, Ruth Lockhart, says the state must build a strong economy to ensure that women succeed.
"The first step toward economic security is the ability to decide whether and when to have children," Lockhart said.
One bill would expand access to family planning services for women whose health care does not cover contraception.
Other bills would subsidize early childhood programming and ensure that victims of domestic and sexual assault are able to take protected leave from work.
A fourth bill, says Lockhart, is a matter a of human decency: It would ban the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women.
