Nearly a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Medical Institute nullified a constitutional right to abortion that had lasted for nearly 50 years. Maryland patients experienced uncertainty and apprehension after the ruling, as other states began enacting myriad abortion regulations. Meanwhile, reproductive health care providers scrambled to build referral networks to help patients get care in states where abortion remains legal.
As Maryland physicians and advocates for patient health, we are focused on maintaining access to essential, proven standard care. While the legal landscape may change, Maryland wants to make it clear to patients that abortion is still a safe and legal state.
Because Maryland protects this basic health care, patients from other states are pouring in for abortion care. A Florida patient was found to have severe skeletal defects in her fetus at routine ultrasound at 21 weeks’ gestation. She was referred to our hospital because it allows her autonomy to choose among any management option, including abortion.
The patient had to save money for childcare, fly from Florida to Maryland, and find lodging in Baltimore, despite the horrifying diagnosis. We are honored to honor her decision to be in the best interest of her health and her family. Yet, we know there are many people like her who will never get care because they lack the support or resources to travel outside of their restricted states.
In addition to numerous restrictive state laws, recent lawsuits aimed at the unavailability of the safe and effective abortion drug mifepristone have threatened abortion care. Medical abortion is the most common method of abortion in the United States and is preferred by many. Mifepristone has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for over 20 years and has very few risks.
A patient recently asked us for a medical abortion. Although she was nine weeks pregnant, she was confused by the current lawsuit against Mifepristone and was unsure if she could still have a medical abortion. We assured her that her mifepristone-based medical abortion was still legally available in Maryland and provided the care she needed afterwards.
Once we gave her that assurance, the Supreme Court ruled to preserve access to mifepristone. Fortunately, even before this decision, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown issued a statement confirming that access to mifepristone in Maryland was fully protected, He stressed prioritizing access to medical abortion for the state.
Clinicians alone cannot protect access to abortion. We rely heavily on lawmakers to pass important laws that ensure continued access to abortion. The Maryland legislature just recently passed several measures to protect essential reproductive health care.had an abortion last year The Access to Care Act was passed, allowing nurses, midwives and physician assistants to provide abortion care, and mandating that public health assistance programs and many private insurance plans cover abortion care services.
Additional legislation was passed to ensure the privacy of health care providers and patients and their right to provide and receive reproductive health care without fear of legal recourse. This includes a bill to protect abortion providers from out-of-state criminal charges and lawsuits, and a bill that would require higher education institutions to have 24/7 access to over-the-counter contraceptives, including Plan B.
Additionally, Gov. Wes Moore has committed $3.5 million to develop training programs for additional abortion care providers to expand access to abortion statewide. Next year, Maryland residents will also have the opportunity to vote in a general election that would include legal protections for abortion in the state constitution. While we cannot fully predict what legal battles lie ahead, we believe Maryland stands ready to provide its citizens with the reproductive health care we all deserve.
It can be a daunting task to sift through misinformation and keep track of frequent changes in national and state abortion laws, but it’s important to ensure that patients stay in communication with their healthcare providers and have their questions clearly answered. I would like to emphasize that you should Marylanders can rest assured that abortion is legal in Maryland, and ensuring access to abortion remains a priority for many legislators. Abortion is an essential medical service that can be safely and effectively performed with medications and procedures. Thankfully, many health care providers and legislators across the state are committed to providing and expanding abortion care and are staying ahead of the challenges ahead.
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Doctors. Rachel Jensen, Jessica K. Lee, and Diana Carvajal are physicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
