Vermont lawmakers pass amendment guaranteeing the right to an abortion in its constitution

Vermont lawmakers have approved an amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution.

The proposed article will now be put to voters, who could make Vermont the first state to put such a protection in its constitution.

If passed, the amendment will affirm that “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”

The amendment, which will be on the ballot as Proposition 5, would not make any practical changes in Vermont, where there are no major abortion restrictions in place and the procedure is protected by state law. But it would make it much harder for future lawmakers to change that.

“What Prop 5 does mean is that the legislature and governor will not determine what restrictions will be placed on abortion procedures,” Democrat state Rep. George Till, who is also an obstetrician and gynecologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center, said on Tuesday.

It would not overturn the current policy requiring an ethics board to review and approve abortion requests beyond 22 weeks of pregnancy, which are typically performed because of fetal anomalies or threats to the mother’s life, he added.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Democratic state Rep. Ann Pugh pointed to ongoing court battles over abortion protections around the country as evidence of the need to act on the amendment.

“We can no longer rely on federal courts to uphold the protections for fundamental reproductive rights based on the federal Constitution,” she said. Vermont voters, who statistically support abortion, are likely to pass the amendment in November.