Advocates line the hallway leading to the House of Representatives chamber on Friday, holding signs for and against a bill that would expand abortion access in Maine. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
AUGUSTA — Hundreds of activists lined the hallways leading into the Maine House and Senate chambers Friday, holding dueling signs advocating for and against a bill supported by Gov. Janet Mills that would open the door to more abortions later in pregnancy.
Anti-abortion advocates sang religious hymns – including the refrain “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” from “Battle Hymn of the Republic” – as lawmakers made their way in and out of the chambers Friday. Legislators did not take up the abortion access debate, setting up votes next week on what has been one of the most contentious bills of the session. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn as soon as Wednesday.
In an era when many states are restricting abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Maine is looking to expand access. Since the Supreme Court decision, 24 states have banned or are likely to ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The pending Maine bill, L.D. 1619, would permit abortions with a licensed doctor’s approval after the 24th week of pregnancy, which is generally when it becomes possible for a fetus to survive outside the womb. Current state law allows for later-in-pregnancy abortions only when the life or health of the mother is at risk.
The bill’s language says that after a fetus is viable, abortions can be performed when necessary “in the professional judgment of a physician.”
Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights and supporters of abortion provider Planned Parenthood of Northern New England showed up in force Friday to urge lawmakers to approve the bill.
“This is a medical decision, period,” said Gretchen Phoenix, 51, of Portland. “We shouldn’t allow politicians to make decisions related to our bodies, related to our medical condition.”
Former state Rep. Karen Vachon, R-Scarborough, joined with other opponents of the bill.
“It is one of the most extreme bills, not just in the United States, but in the world,” Vachon said. She said permitting abortion so late in pregnancies would lead to fewer babies being born, and Maine already has low birth rates. “We are literally killing Maine’s future,” she said.
Advocacy groups on both sides of the abortion debate have been mobilizing activists for months ahead of legislative votes that are now expected to take place next week. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Anti-abortion advocates held signs that said “They are People, Not Property,” “Abortion Denies Human Worth” and “Abortion Devalues Everyone.”
Sonya Pearson of Rumford, who held a “Grandparents for Life” sign, said abortion is morally wrong at any stage of pregnancy.
“Each child has a soul at conception that never was before and lasts forever,” Pearson said.
Seth Sherwood, board chairman for the Resolve Life Center in Waterville, which counsels women against having abortions, said no one mentions the rights of the unborn child when discussing abortion rights.
But abortion rights activists lobbied lawmakers elsewhere in the hallways, arguing that religious beliefs should not be legislated. They held signs that read, “Bans Off Our Bodies, “Mainers Support Abortion Access” and “Abortion Saves Lives.”
A recent University of New Hampshire Poll in February showed that 67% of Maine voters surveyed support abortion access after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
David Clinard of Oakland, an opponent of the bill, and Planned Parenthood volunteer Gretchen Phoenix, a supporter, talk to each other in the third-floor hallway between Senate and House chambers Friday. Clinard is holding what he said was the footprint of a premature baby born at 24 weeks. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Jan Darling, a 77-year-old grandmother from Lyman, said she has a bicornuate uterus, also known as a heart-shaped uterus, which made delivering a baby extremely difficult, and she needed abortion care for her first six pregnancies in the 1970s. The first pregnancy was before Roe v. Wade, and she had to travel to New York City to get an abortion. After advances in science, she later was able to have two children in the 1980s. Darling said her children and grandchildren should live in a world that permits abortion care.
Elayne Richard, 69, of the Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights group, said abortion is health care.
“Why are we punishing people for seeking health care, when we should be helping people?” Richard said.
Advocacy groups on both sides of the issue have been rallying activists for months since the proposal was first unveiled in January.
The bill, L.D. 1619, was formally introduced in April with 75 House co-sponsors and 20 Senate co-sponsors, a majority of the members in both chambers. All co-sponsors were Democrats or independents.
A public hearing on the bill on May 1 lasted 19 hours and drew a crowd of more than 2,000 people to the State House complex, most of them rallying against the bill.
Last week, Democrats on the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee endorsed the abortion bill over the heated objections of outnumbered Republicans. The 7-3 vote sent the bill to the full Legislature.
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