Voters in 10 states will consider whether or not to protect or expand abortion rights in November. That includes battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada and such Republican strongholds as South Dakota and Missouri. In Maryland, where abortion is legal, a proposed amendment is much broader than many abortion-related ballot questions in other states.
Called the Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment, it would enshrine in the state constitution a right "to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy." "What we're saying with this amendment is that the right to reproductive freedom is central to an individual's liberty and equality," said Joseline Peña-Melnyk, a Democrat who chairs the Health and Government Operations Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates. She helped draft the amendment.
Reproductive freedom, Peña-Melnyk said, includes birth control, fertility treatment, tubal ligation, abortion care, and vasectomies. "It's not just for women; it's for everyone," she said. Maryland already has some of the strongest protections for reproductive health care in the country.
In 1998, it became the first state to mandate that insurance companies cover birth control, more than a decade before the Affordable Care Act did so nationwide. And, in 2016, it became one of the first states to require insurance companies and Medicaid to pay for the entire cost of male sterilization procedures and over-the-counter emergency contraception. T.