MD Adds Reproductive Access To State Constitution

Updated at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday

MARYLAND — Voters have approved a referendum that would add reproductive rights to the state's constitution. The AP called the results around 4 a.m. Wednesday morning. Abortions are legal in Maryland.

With all election day precincts reported, the measure received 74 percent approval. The amendment requires a simple majority of votes to become law.

“Maryland voters have rightly chosen to protect their health and their futures. The strong protection of reproductive rights that has existed for decades in Maryland law is now ironclad, enshrined in the state constitution,” Erin Bradley, chair of Freedom in Reproduction-Maryland (FIRM), told Maryland Matters. “Voters have guaranteed reproductive certainty amid uncertain times.”

The proposed amendment found on the ballot as Question 1 asked voters to decide whether a right to reproductive freedom should be constitutionally guaranteed in the state of Maryland. Current protections are established under state law, but those can change by action of the state legislature.

For full coverage of the election in Maryland, go here.

The amendment would add a new section that guarantees a right to reproductive freedom, confirming "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue or end one's own pregnancy," according to the bill.

Anas Aqeel voted to approve the abortion amendment. He told Patch Tuesday, "I can’t risk the mother’s life … I can’t risk her life for the potential baby ... Allowing abortion freely is something I’m against,” but he sees restricting abortions once a fetus has reached the point of viability as a fair restriction.

Republican voter Noreen Kennedy voted at Perry Hall High School in Baltimore County, casting her vote for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump for the third election. She said she voted against the abortion amendment because "I believe that life is sacred."

Kennedy noted that she's "not totally against abortion," but she said if you kill a pregnant woman, "the person gets two counts of murder. What’s the difference?"

Shelby Fleming, who voted for Democratic candidates on the ticket, told Patch she voted to approve the constitutional amendment mainly to protect her reproductive rights.

"I’m pro-choice." ... "I’m adopted. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know where I would be," Fleming said, gesturing toward her adopted mother.

John Douglas, a registered Republican, told Patch he doesn't vote along party lines, and voted in favor of the abortion amendment.

“I think women have the right to choose. I’m Catholic, and I don’t like the church’s stance on that,” Douglas said.

In 2023, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed into law a Reproductive Freedom bill package. That package included:

• an electronic health record data privacy bill;
• a shielding bill to protect providers and patients of legal reproductive health care, including abortion from attacks by anti-abortion extremists in other states;
• a bill requiring four-year residential public colleges to put in place a plan for students to access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, STI testing/treatment, contraceptives, and emergency contraceptives; and
• a constitutional amendment to ensure every person in Maryland has the right to prevent, continue, or end their own pregnancy.

The proposed amendment reads:

Question 1- Constitutional Amendment (Ch. 245 of the 2023 Legislative Session) Declaration of Rights - Right To Reproductive Freedom

"The proposed amendment confirms an individual's fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue or end the individual's pregnancy, and provides the state may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means."

In 2023, the Maryland General Assembly voted to place the referendum on the 2024 ballot, approving it by large majorities. According to a 2014 Pew Research study, 64% of Maryland adults think abortion should be legal in most cases, according to Capital News Service.