Welcome to abortion access week at the State House, friend! 

Today is all about ensuring and expanding reproductive and abortion access, with bills in two committees. 

- An Act to Improve Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Laws  - LD 1619 (Mills and Talbot Ross). This bill would amend the Reproductive Privacy Act in three ways: Remove ban on abortions later in pregnancy so families can make the right decision with their doctors; Remove criminal penalties for medical providers who offer abortion care later in pregnancy and support people who help someone self-manage abortion in Maine; and remove invasive data collection requirements for abortion patients and providers .

- An Act to Protect Health Care Professionals Providing Reproductive Health Care Services - LD 616 (Kuhn).  This bill strengthens protections for healthcare providers so that they may offer care to people traveling to Maine for abortion care safely, without threats to their ability to practice medicine.

- An Act to Protect the Reproductive Freedom of Maine People by Preempting the Field of Abortion Regulation - LD 1343 (Supica). This bill would ensure every Mainer, regardless of what town they live in, has the same rights to abortion care. It would prohibit towns or municipalities from enacting any local ordinance in conflict with Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Act.

- An Act to Remove Barriers to Abortion Coverage in Private Insurance - LD 935 (Moonen).  This bill would ensure no Mainer with insurance has to pay out-of-pocket for abortion care, requiring private insurers to treat abortion care with the same approach as pregnancy care.

- An Act to Ensure Access to Health Care - LD 263 (Sachs). This bill ensures access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion care, remains available in the event of a hospital merger.

- RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish the Right to Bodily Autonomy - LD 776 (Hickman) This bill would amend the Maine Constitution by declaring that every 28person has a natural, inherent and inalienable right to bodily autonomy.

- On Friday, you can expect to see the same raft of anti-abortion proposals that we've defeated in the last several years - mandatory scripts for doctors and providers, ultrasounds, and repealing funding. There are also a few bills to interrupt a young adults right to access health care independently. You can find the full list here (scroll the Friday schedule).  

Abortion access and reproductive health care is the cornerstone of gender equity, a fundamentally important aspect of bodily autonomy, and core to human dignity. Without the ability to safely and security control our reproductive lives, all other freedoms are vulnerable.  You can be sure that we will not rest in making sure that these rights are protected in Maine, alongside our sibling organizations at Mabel Wadsworth Center, Maine Family Planning, Planned Parenthood, Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights, ACLU of Maine, and so many others. 

You can take action by connecting with your legislator and letting them know you support abortion access for all, with our Take Action Toolkit.  

In solidarity, 

Destie, Dania, Catie, and Brook

Weekly Calendar 

The weekly House Calendar is here. The weekly Senate Calendar is here. They will be in session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. 

Monday, May 1

9:00 - Abortion access bills in HCIFS

12:00 - Abortion access bills in Judiciary  

Tuesday, May 2

1:00 - LD 1516 - PH - An Act to Establish Alternative Sentencing for Primary Caregivers (Talbot Ross)

1:00 - LD 1683 - PH - An Act to Provide for Civil Recovery Based on Nonconsensual Removal of or Tampering with a ****** and Considering Sexual Assault in Evaluating Parental Rights (Milliken) 

Wednesday, May 3

1:00 - LD 1435 - WS - An Act to Reduce Commercial Sexual Exploitation (Reckitt)

1:00 - LD 1436 - WS - An Act to Provide Remedies for Survivors of Commercial Sexual Exploitation (Reckitt) 

Thursday, May 4

1:00 - LD 1412 - WS - RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine Establishing That All Maine Residents Have Equal Rights Under the Law  (Reckitt) 

1:00 - LD 618 - PH - An Act to Eliminate Critical Race Theory, Social and Emotional Learning and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from School Curricula (Adams) 

Friday, May 5

9:00 and 1:00 - Anti-abortion and anti-health care bills in Judiciary 

NOTE: Throughout the week, the Health and Human Services Committee will be hearing bills and having work sessions on TANF and SNAP benefits, as well as a number of proposals to add work requirements. The schedule is here.  (We aren't sure how people are supposed to care for their kids and also work, when we are facing a literal childcare crisis?!) 

**Not sure about the difference between a PH (public hearing) and a WS (work session)? Check out our How-To here!

May People Power Hour: Feminist Engagement and Discussion Circle

May 10, 6pm via Zoom

Staff will update the group on the work of the session, ask participants to bring info on what they're working on and then the second half of the hour we will move into a poetry discussion on The Low Road by Marge Piercy and A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde.  More info here.

Citizen Advocacy Toolkit

LGBTQ+ Legislative Info Session

May 1, 12-1 via Zoom

Join us and staff from Maine Equality Community Center, Equality Maine, and Maine TransNet for this catch up and debrief of where we in the session. Info here. 

Save the date!

Power, Purpose, and Peonies: End of Session Celebration at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, July 21, 5:30-8PM

More info to come. 

Maine Feminist Events Calendar

MWL Bill Tracker

Find Your Legislator

Testimony Archive

Take Action Toolkit

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