Efforts To Change Md. Abortion Laws Misguided, Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 11 Jan 2011 - 5:00 PDT

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This year, abortion-rights opponents are expected to "mount an attack" on Maryland's abortion statutes, nearly two decades after the state enacted a law permitting abortion later in pregnancy "to save the life or health of the mother or when the fetus is seriously abnormal or deformed," according to a Baltimore Sun editorial. The law was put to a voter referendum in 1992, resulting in "[o]verwhelming approval, with more than 60% of ballots cast in favor of the law," the editorial states.

In the years since, "Maryland's political landscape has only gotten more progressive on social issues," a fact that "should guide the Legislature" if, as expected, lawmakers take up bills addressing abortion-rights this year. According to the Sun, the "rallying cry" of Maryland abortion-rights opponents is the case of New Jersey physician Steven Brigham, who was ordered to stop practicing in the state because of his alleged role in unscrupulous abortion practices. The editorial notes that the state health department is considering new regulations to help prevent similar violations in the future. "Such rulemaking is entirely appropriate, but revisiting the parameters of the 1991 law is not," the editorial argues.

"Abortion-rights opponents are clearly hoping to go much further and force onerous restrictions on abortion providers," such as "requiring doctor's offices where abortions are performed routinely to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers," the editorial continues, adding that such measures "are not justified and would drive up the cost of the procedure and promote illegal back-alley alternatives." The measures also aim to hinder abortion provider LeRoy Carhart, who provides abortion services later in pregnancy and recently opened a clinic in Montgomery County, Md., the Sun writes.

Unlike Brigham, Carhart is "by all accounts a legitimate and licensed provider," the editorial states, adding that the Brigham case "appears to be an anomaly." Any safety concerns "can be addressed by departmental regulation as provided for under existing law, and not by the Legislatures, where consideration of virtually anything related to abortion is hampered by the ideological passions it raises." The editorial concludes that lawmakers would be "[b]etter to direct their energies to a goal everyone can agree on: Keep abortion safe, legal and rare through education and access to birth control" (Baltimore Sun, 1/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

© 2011 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.



Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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