This petition seeks to have the MD General Assembly leadership (Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones), call a special session to pass The Maryland Reproductive Liberty Amendment 2022 so that it can be on this November's ballot.  The amendment would have provided a state constitutional right to reproductive liberty, "including but not limited to the ability to prevent, continue, or end their pregnancy." It would also add, "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." 

After House Bill 1171 (HB 1171) passed overwhelmingly in the House, but Senate President Bill Ferguson said this bill was "not necessary" and refused to take it up in the Senate this last session.

If we wait to pass this bill in the next general assembly (2023), the abortion amendment will be placed on the 2024 November ballot, it will almost guarantee over 20 months of debate and an endless "drip drip drip" campaign of misinformation from opponents. 

Why would we not take advantage of THIS NOVEMBER's ballot???  A special session needs to be called so this bill so it can be on the 2022 November ballot.

A state constitutional amendment is needed to protect the next generation.  With the Supreme Court's horrific decision to overturn Roe v Wade, we see the results of decades-long campaigns of anti-abortion activists to erode abortion rights.  In state after state, those campaigns have started small and worked deliberately and incrementally and slowly made gains over long periods of time.  The Dobbs case and two-dozen cases in the Supreme Court pipeline did not happen overnight.   They were built through decades of work with the ultimate goal of overturning Roe v. Wade.    

A constitutional amendment sets the highest legal standard.   Maryland has strong laws to protect abortion rights, but a Constitutional Amendment would be stronger.   It would set a higher legal bar to fight off any future attempts to restrict access through litigation, law, or policy.

As we look around Maryland at this moment, and we are confident that this Maryland General Assembly would not enact legislation to restrict abortion access.  But can we extend this confidence to the next generation.  But it would be foolish of us to be so confident in the far future.  We can't afford the risk.  We have seen what has happened in other states.   

Justice Thomas made it perfectly clear.   The next target is contraception and other liberties such as the decision on whom you can marry.    A constitutional amendment is needed to protect women's decisions regarding birth control, abortion, and carrying a pregnancy to term.