10-23-2022 W2W - Flipbook - Page 33
COURTING
controversy
With overturning of Roe, Maryland activists
on both sides of abortion issue step up efforts
By Jean Marbella
A
s Maryland Del. Ariana B. Kelly championed
a bill last session to expand access to abortion, not everyone shared her sense that it
was urgently needed. The right to terminate
a pregnancy, after all, has long been protected by state law.
“A lot of folks were, ‘You guys are crying wolf again,’” said
Kelly, a Democrat who represents Montgomery Country.
But that was then, this is now: In June, the Supreme
Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling
that established the constitutional right to abortion. The
newly majority-conservative court left the legality of the
procedure up to the individual states, triggering an immediate flurry of activism and new laws that now ban or restrict
it.
While abortion remains legal in Maryland, those on both
sides of the debate see the end of Roe as creating a new
political landscape.
Those who support abortion rights say Maryland needs
to further strengthen its protections in the face of the threat
to the procedure elsewhere in the country. Those who
oppose the procedure see an opening to begin chipping
away at what they view as the state’s overly lenient laws
and practices regarding abortion.
“The conversation is wide-open and everyone is having
it here in Maryland,” said Michele Hendrickson, the
Sykesville-based strategic initiatives director of the group,
Students for Life.
The coming battle is shaping up on several fronts, from
the General Assembly to the grassroots level, from the
medical to the political.
Abortion rights supporters are coming off a successful
effort last legislative session, prior to the Supreme Court
decision, to allow other medical professionals such as nurse
practitioners to perform the procedure, which previously
had to be done by physicians. The legislation, shepherded
by Del. Kelly and now-retired state Sen. Delores G. Kelley, a
Baltimore County Democrat, also requires most insurance
providers to cover the procedure at no deductible or other
costs to patients.
In the next session, Kelly said, “priority number one” will
be a proposal to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s
constitution. Previous attempts to do that over the years
have failed, with some seeing it as unnecessary because
the right to abortion was codified in state law by a voter
Del. Ariana Kelly favored a major expansion of abortion rights in the last session, and says the work
must continue if women in Maryland and out of state can continue to have access to the procedure.
Kelly, a state delegate since 2010, was at a fundraiser for Del. Bonnie Cullison at the Lone Oak Farm
Brewing Co. PHOTO BY AMY DAVIS
WOMEN TO WATCH | 2022 | 33