Abortion: the 2023 reproductive privacy law
What they say
In an op-ed his campaign republished, he says that as Senate President he sponsored one of the strongest abortion protection laws in the country, which removed criminal penalties and left care to doctors' medical judgment.
“I sponsored one of the strongest abortion protection laws in the country, which stripped away criminal penalties targeting abortion care and protected the ability of doctors to provide care based on their medical judgment”
What the record shows ·
The law is LD 1619, An Act to Improve Maine's Reproductive Privacy Laws, a Governor's bill presented by Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, who is its sponsor of record. He was its first-named cosponsor. He voted Yea when the Senate enacted it 20 to 11 on July 6, 2023 (Roll Call 483), and it became Public Law 2023, chapter 416 on July 19. The law repealed both criminal provisions in the abortion statute, the Class C crime for an unlicensed person performing an abortion and the section on criminal liability after viability, and allows an abortion after viability when a licensed physician judges it necessary.
Limit: The Legislature lists the Speaker as the sponsor and Jackson as a cosponsor. Whether it is one of the strongest such laws in the country is a comparison no official record makes.