A bill that would make Maine one of the most permissive states in the nation on abortion took another critical step forward in the Legislature on Tuesday.
The Senate voted 21-13 to advance the bill, five days after the measure narrowly passed House — and only then after Democratic leaders spent hours scrambling to lock up the necessary votes.
The bill would lift Maine's current restrictions on post-viability abortions and would, instead, allow such procedures whenever a doctor deems them to be medically necessary. Right now, abortions are only permitted in Maine after roughly 24 weeks in order to protect the life or health of the mother.
Supporters, like Democratic Sen. Anne Carney of Cape Elizabeth, said the change is necessary to accommodate the rare circumstances when a woman learns late in a pregnancy that a fetus has a fatal anomaly. The committee that Carney co-chairs, the Judiciary Committee, heard from several women who had to travel to other states — far from their support networks at home and at considerable financial expense — to terminate a more advanced pregnancy because they could not have the procedure performed in Maine.
"We should trust patients and doctors to make these decisions,” Carney said. “We should respect the decisions made in these heartbreaking situations. And we should ensure that our laws do not make a traumatic situation even worse."
Opponents call the bill "extreme" and overly broad because it does not explicitly state reasons why post-viability abortions would be allowed in Maine. Instead, they accuse Gov. Janet Mills and the political action arm of Planned Parenthood of seeking to push Maine's law well beyond what many residents would support.
“LD 1619 is a pro-abortion lobby bill providing abortion on demand ... and no true legal limit on when it can be performed,” said Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield. “It is heartbreaking.”
Supporters have so far rebuffed attempts to outline specific circumstances in which an abortion would be allowed later in a pregnancy, such as when a fetus has a fatal anomaly. Mills and other supporters contend that each pregnancy is unique and state lawmakers could never come up with a list of potential complications that could necessitate an abortion in the eyes of doctors and their patients. Instead, the bill would legally require doctors to follow standards of medical care.
Thursday’s Senate vote was partisan, with just one Democrat, Sen. Craig Hickman of Winthrop, crossing party lines to join every Republican in opposing the measure. The bill now goes back to the House, where the bill only passed by two votes last week following an hourslong delay after House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross risked losing the vote on a bill that is a top priority for Mills.
