Opponents of Maine’s New Abortion Law Won’t Seek to Nullify It Through a Referendum

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Teams against Maine‘s new regulation increasing abortion entry will not try to nullify the statute by means of a so-called Individuals’s Veto referendum.

Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, chief of the Converse Up for LIFE group, stated Wednesday that allies determined that the prices of accumulating signatures and operating a marketing campaign represented too massive of a hurdle. As an alternative, the teams intend to give attention to electing candidates who’re against abortions.

“On the finish of the day, we need to put our effort into essentially the most impact place doable,” Libby, a Republican from Auburn, instructed The Related Press. Meaning flipping legislative seats, she stated, notably within the Maine Home.

The invoice signed into law by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills final month permits abortions at any time if deemed medically essential by a physician, making the regulation one of many nation’s least restrictive. The earlier regulation, the Reproductive Privateness Act of 1993, banned abortions after a fetus turned viable exterior the womb, at roughly 24 weeks, with an exception if the affected person’s life is in danger.

Wednesday marked the deadline to inform state officers of a Individuals’s Veto, a constitutional provision permitting residents to repeal laws by means of a statewide vote. To maneuver ahead, greater than 67,000 signatures would have been wanted.

Mills introduced the invoice increasing abortion entry after a Yarmouth girl got here ahead along with her story about having to journey to Colorado for an abortion after studying at week 32 of her being pregnant that her unborn son had a deadly situation that might not permit him to outlive.

Critics stated the regulation’s language was broader than essential if the objective was merely to permit abortions in cases of a deadly fetal anomaly later in a being pregnant. Additionally they stated the invoice put an excessive amount of energy within the fingers of medical doctors.

Passage was thought of a foregone conclusion within the Legislature the place Democrats managed each chambers, and there have been sufficient co-sponsors to make sure passage. However the vote was shut within the Home after emotional testimony.

Beside Maine, six states go away the choice to get an abortion to medical doctors and their sufferers, with out restrictions. They’re Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C.

Observe David Sharp on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter, @David_Sharp_AP

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