Maryland House votes to add abortion rights to state constitution, expand access to abortion

On Friday, the Maryland House voted to add the right to abortion access into the state’s constitution and for an additional, separate measure to increase access to providers.

Supporters of the addition cited the possibility that the current conservative-leading U.S. Supreme Court stands to overturn or weaken abortion rights in the near future as the court is set to rule on a key case in the summer. 

The constitutional amendment was approved with a vote of 93-42, and if approved by the Senate, voters would be able to have the last say in November.

Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones sponsored the amendment, which comes at a time when many states are looking to limit access to abortion.

But Maryland does find itself among other states moving to protect abortion as Vermont lawmakers have also approved a constitutional amendment to guarantee abortion access. Vermont’s initiative will come before voters in November.

The Supreme Court has already heard a case out of Mississippi that could potentially roll back abortion access across the United States, and the ruling could even overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade (1973) decision as the decision is expected later this year.

In 1991, Maryland passed legislation to enshrine access to abortion in the state if the Supreme Court ever restricted abortions. Now, the constitutional amendment would make it even harder to overturn the law.

A three-fifths vote in both chambers of the state’s General Assembly would be required to repeal the amendment instead of a majority vote to simply change the law. After that, voters would be given the final say on future changes to the law once it is implemented in the constitution.