2024 ballot initiative
 | ||||
| ||||
Declaration of Rights - Right to Reproductive Freedom | ||||
The 2024 Maryland abortion referendum is a voter referendum to amend the Constitution of Maryland in order to codify the right to reproductive care in Maryland.
| ||
| ||
Declaration of Rights - Right to Reproductive Freedom | ||
| Elections in Maryland |
|---|
 |
 Government |
The 2024 Maryland abortion referendum is a voter referendum to amend the Constitution of Maryland in order to codify the right to reproductive care in Maryland.
The ballot measure reads as follows: [1]
Question ___
Constitutional Amendment
The proposed amendment confirms an individual's fundamental right to an individual's own reproductive liberty and provides the State may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.
The choices read as follows: [1]
For the Constitutional Amendment
Against the Constitutional Amendment
In 1992, Maryland voters approved Question 6, which upheld a state law to codify Roe v. Wade and guaranteed the right to an abortion, with 62 percent of voters approving the measure and 38 percent opposed. [2]
In August 2018, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Michael E. Busch endorsed efforts to codify the right to an abortion into the state constitution, citing fears that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn its ruling in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey , which held that the U.S. Constitution protected a woman's right to have an abortion. [3] [4] Republican Governor Larry Hogan, who personally opposes abortion, expressed support for the measure but also questioned if a constitutional amendment to codify abortion protections was necessary. [5] During the 2019 legislative session, Busch introduced legislation to create a 2020 referendum on enshrining abortion protects into the state constitution, but he withdrew it early into the session after Senate President Thomas V. Miller Jr. said he was reluctant to move it forward following protests against late-term abortion bills in New York and Virginia. [6]
In May 2019, following the election of Adrienne A. Jones as House Speaker and after the Alabama General Assembly passed the Human Life Protection Act, Jones said she would continue Busch's efforts to enshrine abortion protection into the state constitution. [7] As the Supreme Court began considering Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, she introduced legislation to create a referendum on codifying abortion rights, [8] which passed the Maryland House of Delegates by a 93–42 vote, [9] [10] but the bill died in the Maryland Senate after Senate President Bill Ferguson declined to put it up for a vote. [11] The legislature also passed the Abortion Care Access Act, which provided $3.5 million toward clinical training for reproductive services, which became law after lawmakers overrode Governor Hogan's veto on the bill. [12]
In June 2022, after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs and overturned Roe and Casey, Jones committed to reintroducing the bill during the 2023 legislative session. The court's ruling also made relevant the issue of abortion in the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, with all Democratic candidates promising to support Jones' measure; Republican candidate Kelly Schulz said that she was personally pro-life, but would not change "current Maryland law" toward abortion if elected governor, while her challenger, far-right state delegate Dan Cox, celebrated the Dobbs decision and vowed to end taxpayer funding for abortions as governor. [13]
During the 2023 legislative session, Jones again introduced legislation to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution, [14] which passed and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore along with a package of bills to protect patients who come to Maryland seeking abortion rights from out-of-state criminal prosecution. [15] [16]
The amendment was approved by the House on March 10, 2023, with 99 yeas, 37 nays, and 4 abstentions. [17] Before the vote, Republicans unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill, with state delegate William J. Wivell introducing two amendments to give constitutional protections to the "preborn" and another replacing the phrase "reproductive freedom" with "abortion", and state delegate April Fleming Miller introducing an amendment replacing the word "person" with "woman"; all three amendments were defeated in party-line votes. [18]
| Party | Votes for | Votes against | Abstentions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (102) | 99 | – | 2 | |
| Republican (39) | – | 37 | 2 | |
| Total (140) [lower-alpha 1] | 99 | 37 | 4 | |
The amendment was approved by the Senate on March 31, 2023, with 33 yeas and 14 nays. [19] Republican state senator Bryan Simonaire introduced an amendment to ban abortions after fetal viability, which failed by a vote of 13-33, and another amendment to the Senate crossfile version of the bill that would exclude gender-affirming surgery for minors without parental consent under the bill's definition of reproductive freedom, which was rejected by a vote of 14-32. [20]
| Party | Votes for | Votes against | Abstentions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (34) | 33 | 1 | – | |
| Republican (13) | – | 13 | – | |
| Total (47) | 33 | 14 | 0 | |
The Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment is supported by Freedom in Reproduction — Maryland, which is made up of leaders from organizations including Planned Parenthood Maryland, the Baltimore Abortion Fund, and the Women's Law Center of Maryland. It is opposed by Health Not Harm MD, which is chaired by Deborah Brocato, a lobbyist for Maryland Right to Life. [21] [22]
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size [lower-alpha 2] | Margin of error | For | Against | Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpinionWorks [37] | October 20–23, 2022 | 982 (LV) | ± 3.1% | 71% | 19% | – | 11% |
| University of Maryland [38] | September 22–27, 2022 | 810 (RV) | ± 4.0% | 78% | 16% | – | 5% |
Nicholaus Ryan Kipke is an American politician. Since 2007, he has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 31. He previously served as the Minority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2013 to 2021.
Bryan Warner Simonaire is an American politician who serves as a Maryland state senator representing District 31, which encompasses much of northern Anne Arundel County's Baltimore suburbs. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the minority leader of the Maryland Senate from 2020 to 2023.
Adrienne Alease Jones is an American politician who has served as the 107th Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first African-American and first woman to serve in that position in Maryland. She has represented District 10 in the Maryland House of Delegates since 1997.
Ariana Brannigan Kelly is an American politician who is the executive director of the Maryland Commission for Women. She was a member of the Maryland Senate from District 16, which is located in Montgomery County, from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the same district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2011 to 2023.
Justin D. Ready is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland Senate since 2015, representing District 5 in Carroll County. He previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2011 to 2015.
Kathy Szeliga is an American politician who has served as a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates since January 12, 2011, and as Minority Whip from 2013 to 2021. Szeliga was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in 2016 to replace Barbara Mikulski, who retired.
William Joseph Wivell is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 2A since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he was previously a member of the Washington County Board of Commissioners from 1998 to 2010, and from 2014 to 2015.
April R. Rose is an American politician who is a member of the Republican Party who represents the fifth district in the Maryland House of Delegates. She has also served as the Assistant Minority Leader since 2021.
Haven N. Shoemaker, Jr. is an American politician who is currently the State's Attorney for Carroll County, Maryland. He previously served as a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2022, and as the House minority whip in 2022. He also previously served as a Carroll County Commissioner, as Mayor of Hampstead, Maryland, and as a member of the Hampstead Town Council.
Clarence K. Lam is an American politician and physician who has served in the Maryland Senate representing the 12th district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, his district stretches across Anne Arundel and Howard counties and includes parts of Columbia and Glen Burnie. Lam previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2019.
Mark Nicholas Fisher is an American politician who represents District 27C in the Maryland House of Delegates, which covers parts of Calvert County. He previously represented District 27B from 2011 to 2015. He also hosts a podcast called Mark and the Millennials, which explores the divide between conservative millennials and the baby boomer generation.
Teresa E. Reilly is an American politician from Maryland from the Republican Party. She is currently a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 35B, representing northern Cecil and Harford counties.
Gabriel Acevero is a Trinidadian–American organizer, activist and politician representing Maryland's 39th House district. On November 6, 2018, Acevero finished in first place with 31% of the vote and became the first openly gay Afro-Latino, and one of the youngest people, elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. Acevero is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Wayne A. Hartman is a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates. He serves in District 38C, representing Wicomico County and Worcester County including Ocean City, Maryland. He previously served on the Ocean City Council for one four-year term.
Lesley Jeanne Lopez is an American politician who is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 39. A member of the Democratic Party, she unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 6th congressional district in 2024, losing to April McClain-Delaney in the Democratic primary election.
Daniel Lewis Cox is an American politician and lawyer who was a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing the fourth district from 2019 to 2023. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee in the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, which he lost in a landslide, and had been endorsed by former president Donald Trump. In 2024, Cox unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland's 6th congressional district, losing to former state delegate Neil Parrott in the Republican primary election.
Rachel Parker Muñoz is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she initially represented the 33rd district from 2021 to 2023, and has since represented the 31st district.
Proposition 1, titled Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom and initially known as Senate Constitutional Amendment 10 (SCA 10), was a California ballot proposition and state constitutional amendment that was voted on in the 2022 general election on November 8. Passing with more than two-thirds of the vote, the proposition amended the Constitution of California to explicitly grant the right to an abortion and contraceptives, making California among the first states in the nation to codify the right. The decision to propose the codification of abortion rights in the state constitution was precipitated in May 2022 by Politico's publishing of a leaked draft opinion showing the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The decision reversed judicial precedent that previously held that the United States Constitution protected the right to an abortion.
Dawn Danielle Gile is an American politician and attorney. She is a member of the Maryland Senate for District 33 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
The 2023 Ohio reproductive rights initiative, officially titled "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety", and listed on the ballot as Issue 1, was a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment that was adopted on November 7, 2023, by a majority of 56.8% of voters. It codified reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution, including contraception, fertility treatment, the choice whether to continue one's own pregnancy, and miscarriage care, restoring Roe v. Wade-era access in Ohio and protecting "the right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability" while permitting restrictions after.
also said he would vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state's Constitution, a measure that will be on the ballot in November