Abortion in Maine

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Abortion in Maine is legal, although terminations after fetal viability can only be performed if a physician determines it to be medically necessary. [1] [2] According to a poll by the Pew Research Center, 64% of adults said that abortion should be legal, with 33% stating that it should be illegal in all or most cases.

Contents

History

Legislative history

The first abortion-related legislation was passed in the state in 1821. [3] The second law was passed 19 years later, in 1840. [3] In 1857, RS 1857, c. 124, §§7, 8, was passed related to the concealment of birth and procuring of abortions. It would be another 14 years before a law on this same theme was passed. In 1883, another law on concealment of birth and procuring of abortions was passed. Twenty more years would pass, and then a new law on concealment of birth and procuring of abortions passed in 1903. [3] By the end of the 1800s, all states in the Union, except Louisiana, had therapeutic exceptions in their legislative bans on abortions. [4]

Abortion-related legislation would again pass the Maine legislature in 1907, 1909, 1916, 1921, 1930, 1935, 1943, 1944, 1954, 1964, 1967, and 1969. Two abortion-related bills were passed 1971: one, LD 1373, "An Act Relating to Termination of Human Pregnancy by Therapeutic Abortion"; and the other, LD 1406, "An Act Relating to Termination of Human Pregnancy by Medical Decision". [4]

In 1973, the year of the US Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling, seven pieces of legislation related to abortion were passed. These included HP 857, "Joint Resolution Memorializing Congress to Call A Convention for the Purpose of Amending the United States Constitution Relative to Abortion"; LD 887, "An Act Relating to Reporting of Data of Abortions Performed by an Attending Physician"; LD 888, "An Act Prohibiting the Use and Sale of Human Fetus for Experimentation"; LD 952, "An Act Relating to Discrimination Against Persons Who Refuse to Perform or Assist Abortions"; LD 953, "An Act Relating to Immunity of Persons or Hospitals Refusing to Perform or Assist in Abortions"; LD 1529, "An Act Regulating Abortion Procedures"; and LD 1824, "An Act to Prevent Criminal Abortion Practices". [4] In 1974, HP 1897, a "Joint Order Commending the Pro-Life Education Association", was passed. [4]

Maine passed abortion-related legislation in 1993 that said women have the right to "terminate a pregnancy before viability". Abortions need to be performed by a licensed physician. After the point where a fetus is viable, a pregnancy can only be terminated if the life or health of the mother is at risk. [5] [6] The state was one of 10 states in 2007 to have a customary informed-consent provision for abortions. [7] In August 2018, the state had a law to protect the right to have an abortion. [8] As of May 14, 2019, the state prohibited abortions after the fetus was viable, generally some point between week 24 and 28. This period uses a standard defined by the US Supreme Court in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade ruling.

In April 2024, the Maine Senate failed to pass an abortion rights amendment to the Maine Constitution by the necessary 2/3 vote required to send the issue to voters. The vote, 20–13, was along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. [9]

Judicial history

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. [4] However, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , No. 19-1392 , 597 U.S. ___(2022) later in 2022. [10] [11]

Clinic history

Number of abortion clinics in Maine by year Number of abortion clinics in Maine by year.png
Number of abortion clinics in Maine by year

Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by 33, going from 39 in 1982 to 17 in 1992. [12] In 2014, there were 4 abortion clinics in the state. [13] In 2014, 81% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 55% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. [8] In 2017, there were 4 Planned Parenthood clinics, 1 of which offered abortion services in a state with a population of 278,104 women aged 15–49. [14]

Statistics

In the period between 1972 and 1974, there were no recorded illegal abortion deaths in the state. [15] In 1990, 143,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy. [12] In 2010, the state had 15 publicly funded abortions, all of which were federally funded. [16] In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were 280 abortions, for black women aged 15–19, there were 10 abortions, for Hispanic women aged 15–19, there were 0 abortions, and there were 10 abortions for women of all other races. [17] In 2014, 64% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal with 33% stating it should be illegal in all or most cases. [18] In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 5.7 deaths per 1,000 live births. [19]

Number of reported abortions, abortion rate, and percentage change in rate by geographic region and state in 1992, 1995 and 1996 [20]
Census division and stateNumberRate % change 1992–1996
199219951996199219951996
Total1,528,9301,363,6901,365,73025.922.922.9–12
New England78,36071,94071,28025.223.623.5–7
Connecticut19,72016,68016,23026.22322.5–14
Maine4,2002,6902,70014.79.69.7–34
Massachusetts40,66041,19041,16028.429.229.33
New Hampshire3,8903,2403,47014.61212.7–13
Rhode Island6,9905,7205,4203025.524.4–19
Number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions, by reporting area of residence and occurrence and by percentage of abortions obtained by out-of-state residents, US CDC estimates
LocationResidenceOccurrence % obtained by

out-of-state residents

YearRef
No.Rate^Ratio^^No.Rate^Ratio^^
Maine1,9398.31532,0218.61593.62014 [21]
Maine1,7437.51381,8367.91463.12015 [22]
Maine1,9378.41522,0218.71593.52016 [23]
^number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44; ^^number of abortions per 1,000 live births

Abortion rights views and activities

Protests

Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019. [24]

Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, Bangor Daily News counted over a thousand abortion rights protesters gathered in Portland in front of Portland City Hall. [25] On June 30, hundreds of abortion rights protestors gathered in Lewiston. [26]

Related Research Articles

Abortion in Oklahoma is illegal unless the abortion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Abortion in Alaska is legal at all stages of pregnancy. In September 2024, an Alaska superior court judge struck down the requirement that only licensed physicians provide abortions, meaning that the procedure can now also be legally performed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants. As of 2016, Alaska does not require a minor to notify a parent or guardian in order to obtain an abortion. 63% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Alaska was one of only four states to make abortion legal between 1967 and 1970, a few years before the US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling. Alaska had consent requirements for women seeking abortions by 2007 that required abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer, despite it being scientifically unsupported.

Abortion in Arkansas is illegal except when it is necessary to save the life of the pregnant individual. Doctors determined to have performed an abortion face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $100,000.

Abortion in Delaware is legal up to the point of fetal viability. As of June 2024, Civiqs polling found that 72% of Delawareans believed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 23% believed it should be illegal in all or most cases. There was a therapeutic exceptions in the state's legislative ban on abortions by 1900. Informed consent laws were on the books by 2007. In 2017, Senator Bryan Townsend, D-Newark introduced legislation to try to make clear that abortion would remain legal in the state in case 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned. The legislation was subsequently updated. Attempts have been made to introduce mandatory ultrasound laws, but they failed to get out of committee. State legislators tried to move ahead the week at which a woman could get a legal abortion in 2019.

Abortion in Hawaii is legal. 66% of adults in Hawaii said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Hawaii began allowing abortion care de jure in 1970, the first state to do so. State law enacted at that time stated said, "the State shall not deny or interfere with a female's right to choose or obtain an abortion of a nonviable fetus or an abortion that is necessary to protect the life or health of the female."

Abortion in Idaho is illegal from fertilization. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, abortion in Idaho was criminalized by the trigger law which states that a person who performs an abortion may face two to five years of imprisonment. The ban allows exceptions for maternal health, rape and incest within the first trimester. The law took effect on August 25, 2022.

Abortion in Montana is legal. The number of abortion clinics in Montana has fluctuated over the years, with twenty in 1982, twelve in 1992, eight providers of which seven were clinics in 2011, and five clinics in 2014. There were four clinics from 2015 to February 2018 when All Families Healthcare clinic in Whitefish reopened. There were 1,690 legal abortions in 2014, and 1,611 in 2015.

Abortion in Nevada is legal up to the 24th week of pregnancy, under the Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 442, section 250; and after 24 weeks if the pregnancy could be fatal for the pregnant individual. 62% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal while 34% said it should by illegal in all or most cases. Legislation by 2007 required informed consent. Attempts were successfully made to pass abortion legislation in May 2019, being pushed through a largely Democratic controlled state legislature. The number of abortion clinics in Nevada has declined over the years, with 25 in 1982, seventeen in 1992 and thirteen in 2014. There were 8,132 legal abortions in 2014, and 7,116 in 2015. Due to the high level of support for abortion rights in the state, continued access to abortion is supported by all parties, including the Republicans.

Abortion in New York is legal, although abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy require a physician's approval. Abortion was legalized up to the 24th week of pregnancy in New York in 1970, three years before it was legalized for the entire United States with the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Roe v. Wade was later overturned in 2022 by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The Reproductive Health Act, passed in 2019 in New York, further allows abortions past the 24th week of pregnancy if a pregnant individual's life or health is at risk, or if the fetus is not viable. However, since these exceptions are not defined by the law, and the law carries no criminal penalties for the pregnant individual, abortion is effectively legal throughout pregnancy.

Abortion in North Dakota is technically legal, but with no current providers. The state's sole abortion clinic, the Red River Women's Clinic, relocated to Minnesota.

Abortion in Oregon is legal at all stages of pregnancy. The Center for Reproductive Rights classifies Oregon as highly protective of abortion rights.

Abortion in Rhode Island is legal. On June 19, 2019, the legal right to abortion was codified into Rhode Island law by passage of the Reproductive Privacy Act.

Abortion in South Dakota is illegal. Anyone who induces an abortion is guilty of a Class 6 felony. An exception is included to "preserve the life of the pregnant female," given appropriate and reasonable medical judgment.

Abortion in Tennessee is illegal from fertilization and provides no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. Tennessee's abortion legislation provides no explicit exceptions for the pregnant patient’s health. It makes an exception for an “affirmative defense” for emergencies, but the vagueness of what constitutes an emergency means that physicians hesitate to provide abortions even when the mother's life is in jeopardy. Attempts to codify the exceptions into law have been rejected by Republican politicians in Tennesse.

Abortion in Utah is legally performed under a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the state's trigger law, which bans abortion. According to HB136, which is effective state law from June 28, 2022, abortions are banned following 18 weeks of gestation. Abortion was banned following the Supreme Court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24, 2022. Utah State Legislation enacted SB 174 in May 2020, which, upon the overturn of Roe v. Wade, made inducing an abortion a second-degree felony. The law includes exceptions for pregnancies "caused by rape or incest," pregnancies that put the mother's life at risk, or "if two doctors say the fetus has a lethal defect." Rape and incest exceptions will only be viable if the crimes were previously reported to law enforcement officials.

Abortion in Vermont is legal at all stages of pregnancy. A 2014 Pew Research Center poll showed 70% of adults in the state believed abortion should be legal in most or all cases, the second highest percentage in the country. The state funds abortions deemed medically necessary for low-income women via Medicaid.

Abortion in the U.S. state of Virginia is legal up to the end of the second trimester of a pregnancy. Before the year 1900, abortion remained largely illegal in Virginia, reflecting a widespread trend in many U.S. states during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Abortion was viewed as a criminal act and subject to state laws that prohibited it. However, by 1950, Virginia introduced a legal therapeutic exception, allowing for abortion under specific circumstances, primarily when a woman's physical or mental health was at risk. Notably, the University of Virginia Hospital established a review board in 1950 responsible for evaluating and approving abortion requests, particularly those grounded in psychiatric reasons. This thorough approval process resulted in a significant decrease in the number of abortions performed at the hospital.

Abortion in West Virginia is illegal except in cases of rape or incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, and when the mother’s life is at risk from a pregnancy.

Abortion in New Mexico is legal at all stages of pregnancy. The number of abortion clinics in New Mexico has declined over the years, with 26 in 1982, 20 in 1992 and 11 in 2014. There were 4,500 legal abortions in 2014. There were 7 facilities providing abortion in New Mexico in 2017, and 6 of those were clinics. In 2017, 91% of New Mexico counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 48% of New Mexico women lived in those counties.

Abortion in Wyoming is currently legal due to a temporary court injunction.

References

  1. ↑ LD 1619
  2. ↑ "Where Can I Get an Abortion? | U.S. Abortion Clinic Locator". www.abortionfinder.org. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 "Abortion Legislation in Maine". www.maine.gov. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Buell, Samuel (January 1, 1991). "Criminal Abortion Revisited". New York University Law Review. 66 (6): 1774–1831. PMID   11652642.
  5. ↑ "Are there *any* states working to protect abortion rights?". Well+Good. May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Title 22, §1598: Abortions". legislature.maine.gov. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  7. ↑ "State Policy On Informed Consent for Abortion" (PDF). Guttmacher Policy Review. Fall 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  8. 1 2 Panetta, Grace; lee, Samantha (August 4, 2018). "This is what could happen if Roe v. Wade fell". Business Insider (in Spanish). Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Abortion-rights amendment fails to get needed supermajority vote in Maine Senate". WGME.com. April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  10. ↑ de Vogue, Ariane (June 24, 2022). "Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade". CNN . Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  11. ↑ Howe, Amy (June 24, 2022). "Supreme Court overturns constitutional right to abortion". SCOTUSblog . Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  12. 1 2 Arndorfer, Elizabeth; Michael, Jodi; Moskowitz, Laura; Grant, Juli A.; Siebel, Liza (December 1998). A State-By-State Review of Abortion and Reproductive Rights. DIANE Publishing. ISBN   9780788174810.
  13. ↑ Gould, Rebecca Harrington, Skye. "The number of abortion clinics in the US has plunged in the last decade — here's how many are in each state". Business Insider. Retrieved May 23, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "Here's Where Women Have Less Access to Planned Parenthood" . Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  15. ↑ Cates, Willard; Rochat, Roger (March 1976). "Illegal Abortions in the United States: 1972–1974". Family Planning Perspectives. 8 (2): 86–92. doi:10.2307/2133995. JSTOR   2133995. PMID   1269687.
  16. ↑ "Guttmacher Data Center". data.guttmacher.org. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  17. ↑ "No. of abortions among women aged 15–19, by state of residence, 2013 by racial group". Guttmacher Data Center. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Views about abortion by state - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics". Pew Research Center. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  19. ↑ "States pushing abortion bans have highest infant mortality rates". NBC News. May 24, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  20. ↑ Henshaw, Stanley K. (June 15, 2005). "Abortion Incidence and Services in the United States, 1995-1996". Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 30: 263–270. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  21. ↑ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2017). "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2014". MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 66 (24): 1–48. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6624a1. ISSN   1546-0738. PMC   6289084 . PMID   29166366.
  22. ↑ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2018). "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2015". MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 67 (13): 1–45. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6713a1. ISSN   1546-0738. PMC   6289084 . PMID   30462632.
  23. ↑ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2019). "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2016". MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 68 (11): 1–41. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.ss6811a1 . ISSN   1546-0738. PMC   6289084 . PMID   31774741.
  24. ↑ Bacon, John. "Abortion rights supporters' voices thunder at #StopTheBans rallies across the nation". USA Today. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  25. ↑ Marino Jr., David (June 24, 2022). "Protesters take to the streets in Portland following Supreme Court decision". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  26. ↑ "Hundreds gather in Lewiston to protest Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade". WGME. June 30, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
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