The Maryland General Assembly has overridden Governor Larry Hogan’s veto to enact an expansive pro-abortion law, becoming only the 15th state in the country to allow non-physicians to perform abortions.
It’s a sign of the bill’s extremism that Hogan attempted to veto it. Though he’s a Republican, Hogan bills himself as pro-choice. Yet even he refused to support this new law, which not only allows nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician’s assistants to perform abortions but also requires Maryland insurance providers to cover the entire cost of an abortion procedure. It also requires Maryland to spend $3.5 million annually on training for performing abortions.
In a letter to the speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, Hogan reiterated his “commitment to take no action that would affect Maryland law where it concerns reproductive rights” but asserted that his veto is “reaffirming that commitment” because of the problems with the law.
Hogan wrote that the bill “endangers the health and lives of women by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions” and “risks lowering the high standard of reproductive health care services received by women in Maryland.”
The governor is wrong to group abortion under that umbrella — a procedure that intentionally kills a human being can’t be considered health care under any reasonable or humane definition — but he’s correct to note that the law is contrary to women’s health. Hogan notes that abortions “can, and often do, result in significant medical complications that require the attention of a licensed physician [who] have a level of education and training not received by other types of healthcare professionals.”
“The only impact that this bill would have on women’s reproductive rights would be to set back standards for women’s health care and safety,” Hogan’s letter concluded.
Nevertheless, Maryland lawmakers have decided to enact it anyway, a move that thrilled local abortion providers: “This is the standard of care in 14 other states,” said Karen J. Nelson, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Maryland. “So Maryland, who typically is on the front end of reproductive health care, actually had a little catching up to do here.”