Voters in Maryland officially said they want to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution. The ballot measure only needed a simple majority to pass, but voters approved it by a significant margin.
Maryland’s current law allows abortion. Democratic Gov. Wes Moore signed a reproductive freedom legislation package in 2023 that further protected electronic health data, shielded abortion providers from prosecution in other states and required public colleges to give students access to comprehensive reproductive care.
The amendment does not set any limits on the procedure, it states people have reproductive freedom and “the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”
“Today marks a significant victory for the rights, dignity, and autonomy of every person in our state, and those patients and their families who are forced to leave their home communities to travel to Maryland for healthcare,” Morgan Nuzzo, co-founder of Partners of Abortion Care, a clinic in Maryland, told NPR’s local affiliate.