BALTIMORE — The Supreme Court upended a half-century of precedent Friday when it overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion a constitutional right, shifting the onus to states such as Maryland to provide services.
Roughly half the states are expected to ban or significantly curtail the abortion procedure, and some clinics have already shuttered in anticipation of the court ruling, sending women from places as far away as Texas to Maryland.
Lawmakers in the state’s General Assembly already moved this year to bolster Maryland’s system, adding to the workers who would be allowed to provide abortions, setting up training and preparing to accept and fund a greater influx of women from outside its borders.
The abortion precedent was set in 1973 and held that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provided a fundamental right to privacy that protects the right to an abortion. The court further ruled in a 1992 case that states can’t put an undue burden on the right and again in 2016 that states couldn’t allow strict requirements on abortion clinics and doctors.
But the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court used a Mississippi case Friday to overturn Roe entirely though the state law had sought only to ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy. It had been blocked by lower courts for violating the Roe decision. The decision was widely anticipated after a draft decision was leaked in early May.
Friday’s ruling allows states to set their own laws. In Maryland, a person is permitted to have an abortion up until the fetus is viable outside the womb, considered at about 24 weeks, and later to protect the health or life of the pregnant person or for a fetal anomaly. Women already had long traveled to Maryland for more complicated procedures that take place later in pregnancy.
Maryland’s standard was adopted by the state in 1991, and a year later a ballot referendum codified the policy, ensuring access to abortions even if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. Further efforts to enshrine access to abortions in the state constitution as recently as 2022 have failed.
But this year, the Abortion Care Access Act passed and requires the state’s Medicaid system for low-income residents to cover abortions. Private insurers must also cover the services unless they have a religious or legal exemption.
The legislation also allows nurses, nurse midwives and physicians assistants to perform abortions and provides $3.5 million to train clinicians. The money will become available next year after Gov. Larry Hogan refused to release it early because he opposes non-doctors performing abortions.
Hogan, a Republican, vetoed the legislation but was overridden and the law will go into effect July 1.
The nurses and physicians assistants already are allowed to prescribe medication abortions, responsible for an estimated half of abortions now. They will need to train with doctors to become competent to perform traditional abortions but no certification is necessary.
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