Some state lawmakers focusing on abortion access amid challenge to Roe v. Wade

Several state legislatures are attempting to expand access to abortion this term, while a challenge to Roe v. Wade is pending before the US Supreme Court.

Two bills from Maryland and Washington aim to expand the pool of abortion providers operating in the states, which will likely lead to increased demand for the service if the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturns or limits Roe’s decision in the coming months should Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

Washington State Senator Emily Randall, majority leader of the Senate Democratic faction, is the lead sponsor of a bill under consideration in this session that would expand state-approved abortion providers to include physician assistants and advanced nurse practitioners in addition to physicians.

“Abortion providers in Washington are rapidly preparing for the surge in women and people … who will travel hundreds of miles from our neighbors in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada to Washington’s borders, depending on what kind of ban the Supreme Court issues.” ,” Randall said during a media briefing Thursday with the State Innovation Exchange, a strategy center that helps state legislators nationwide drive progressive policies. “That’s why this policy is more important than ever.”

Democratic Maryland Del. Ariana Kelly, a former executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, also plans to introduce legislation in this session that would expand abortion access in the state by allowing qualified health care providers such as midwives and nurses to perform and increase access to abortions Training for abortion providers. The Abortion Care Access Act would also ensure that Medicaid would cover abortion procedures and eliminate co-payments and deductibles for abortion treatments.

“What we want to do is address what we see as critical vendor shortages and also affordability issues,” Kelly said during Thursday’s briefing, which came two days before Roe’s 49th anniversary. “As we see a longer wait for appointments, we can see that there is a shortage of providers. In this day and age, six months from now, I think it’s only going to get worse.”

Kelly said two-thirds of Maryland’s counties have no abortion providers, particularly in rural areas, while the state is also seeing increased demand — including from patients flying in from Texas after a state ban on abortions about six weeks into the pregnancy. Helping Maryland residents access abortion treatments “more efficiently and effectively” could also help providers care for those coming from out of state, Kelly said.

Abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion protesters demonstrate in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington on December 1, 2021.

Georgia Rep. Park Cannon said she plans to introduce a resolution next week that will address access to abortions in the state, including for women of color, amid a law banning abortions in the state after just six weeks would be challenged in court.

“We must adopt measures that state that Georgia has a strong commitment to protecting reproductive health, rights and justice, which of course includes the right to safe and legal abortion treatment, but also the right to make reproductive choices yourself. ‘ Cannon said during the briefing.

Other states campaigning to protect abortion rights while the US Supreme Court is considering whether to uphold Mississippi’s abortion ban is New Jersey, which last week passed legislation codifying abortion rights into state law .

The Vermont state legislature is also considering Prop 5, an amendment that would enshrine “reproductive autonomy,” including abortion, in the state constitution. If the proposal is eventually approved, it could be put before voters in November.

Among the states looking to limit abortion rights is Florida, where state legislators are considering a bill that, like Mississippi law in the Supreme Court, would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Washington state Republicans also introduced legislation in this session that would limit access to abortion, including a bill that would make the provision of medical abortion methods a crime.

Additionally, voters in Kansas and Kentucky are expected this year to decide whether to amend their constitutions to say there is no abortion right.

Protesters, protesters and activists gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington December 1, 2021 as judges hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case about a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization, 108 abortion restrictions were enacted in 19 states last year. That’s the highest total since 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion in its Roe v Wade decision, the organization said.

After hearing arguments over the Mississippi law last month, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court seemed inclined to limit abortion rights. A decision in the case is expected by the end of the court’s term in June.

Should the court overturn Roe and allow abortion rights to be decided state by state, 26 states will ban abortion “certainly or probably,” according to a Guttmacher Institute report released in October.

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2022/01/21/some-state-lawmakers-focusing-on-abortion-access-amid-challenge-to-roe-v-wade/