The Maine House of Representatives last Wednesday passed a bill that would protect out-of-state patients seeking gender-affirming care or abortions from states where such health care is illegal, even if received in another state.
The bill “faces further action in both chambers, but the House vote gives it a clear path to passage because Democrats have a wider 22-13 majority in the Senate. [Maine Governor Janet] Mills championed last year’s abortion-rights expansion, which only advanced by one vote in the House at first due to opposition from a small group of anti-abortion Democrats,” according to a report in the Bangor Daily News.
Reports the BDN:
Democrats passed the measure in an initial 80-70 vote on Wednesday against unified Republican opposition. The vote came after a charged debate in which Rep. Michael Lemelin, R-Chelsea, was ruled out of order after blaming the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston for God’s reaction to an abortion-rights expansion passed last year.
The new bill, sponsored by Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, affirms Maine’s laws governing abortion and gender-affirming care as a legal right while attempting to outlaw “interference” by other states. It attempts to protect doctors and patients from prosecution and litigation in other states and allows them to use Maine courts to sue states pursuing action under their laws.
“What we are proposing here is to protect our providers and frankly, to protect our brothers and sisters who are fellow Americans if they choose to come here for legal care,” Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, said.
Maine’s bill combines two cultural issues that have defined national politics over the last few years. It was a top priority this year for abortion-rights groups including Planned Parenthood. Top prosecutors in 16 Republican-led states threatened to sue the state over the bill.
Read the complete Bangor Daily News story here.
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