When it comes to your health, you know what you deserve: Safety, respect, affordability and privacy. Medical decisions — whether it’s something minor like adjusting your diet to manage cholesterol levels or something major like planning for surgery — should be made between you and your trusted doctor. Imagine having a stranger in the room when you’re discussing your health with your medical provider. Now imagine if that person were an insurance bureaucrat — or even worse, a politician.
The ability to make decisions about your own health, and to access health care from a provider you trust, when you need it, are fundamental rights. This includes the right to access abortion care. As a legislator, I know that when it comes to your health, the best thing lawmakers can do is make sure you can see a health care provider in your community, without being worried about whether you can afford it. Maine leaders know health care is a human right, and abortion is health care.
The fact is, most people in our country agree: A 2021 national survey showed that 80% of Americans support legal abortion access. One in 4 women in our country has had an abortion. People seek abortion care for reasons that are varied and highly personal. Sometimes the patient is the victim of domestic abuse or sexual assault. Sometimes they’re facing a medical complication that’s endangering their health or even their life. Sometimes they’re not old enough or financially stable enough to become a parent. Regardless of their reasons, having a politician get in the way of their decision won’t help anything.
In Maine, under Gov. Janet Mills, we have enshrined access to abortion care in state law, and expanded its coverage to ensure more people in our state have access to this vital care, regardless of how much money they make or where they work and live. We also expanded which licensed medical providers can offer abortion care, so that Maine patients can work with a provider they know and trust, right in their own community. Last year, we passed a law from Sen. Stacy Brenner, a nurse-midwife, to make sure insurance companies cover services provided by certified midwives. This year, we passed a law, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth, supporting reproductive health care centers, which are often the first point of contact many Mainers have when it comes to their overall health. We passed another law, from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, to ensure insurance companies cover all birth control options that have been approved by the FDA, so that these companies don’t have the power to overrule decisions made between a doctor and their patient.
Because we know the issues of reproductive freedom and family planning extend far beyond the doctor’s office, Maine lawmakers have instituted a first-in-the-nation earned paid leave policy, and we’re working on implementing a statewide paid family and medical leave policy — an effort headed up by my colleague Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick. Just in the last few years, we’ve passed laws that push back against pay discrimination, expand low-cost health care coverage for children, expand postpartum care coverage, expand access to fertility care, provide free meals for all Maine public school students, and invest in child care options. All of these are, fundamentally, family-forward policies. There’s so much that goes into planning, starting and raising a family; it’s up to Maine leaders to make sure Mainers have the support they need to thrive.
It’s worth repeating: Health care is a human right, and abortion is health care. As someone who remembers a time before Roe v. Wade — when women were forced to go underground and put their lives at risk to get an abortion — I know how truly vital this right is. As a legislator, and as a citizen of Maine, I’m going to keep fighting to ensure this right is protected and respected, for all people.
Eloise Vitelli is a state senator representing District 23, covering Sagadahoc County and Dresden.
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