A letter from our CEO Pamela Palumbo
In the upcoming 2024 General Election, Question #1 on the Maryland ballot we will be asked to vote For or Against adding a “reproductive freedom” amendment to our state Constitution. Without careful review, it would be easy to assume that it is just an abortion amendment. Actual wording reveals it also creates a new and unlimited right for all individuals, regardless of age and eliminating a parent’s right to participate in the healthcare and education decisions of their minor children when it pertains to their reproductive system. Abortion is the “Trojan horse” being used to trick all Marylanders into voting away their parental rights.
The Maryland Freedom of Choice Act (1991) already allows abortion through birth for any reason. A NO vote on this amendment will not change any of those laws. You are needed to inform your pro choice friends and family!
Currently minors need signed permission to take Tylenol in school, get a piercing or a tattoo. Minors cannot buy alcohol, cannabis or join the military. We protect minors from lots of behaviors that could harm them. However, if it passes, children will be able to permanently alter their bodies without their mother or father being part of the decision.
Efforts lead by Senator Simonaire to limit the amendment to abortion, exclude minors, and provide parental consent requirements were rejected. This made it clear that the amendment was meant to extend beyond women and abortion. “Reproductive freedom” is not defined in the amendment or anywhere in Maryland code or law.
There are no Maryland laws preventing adults from seeking any reproductive intervention including abortion, vasectomy, birth control, tubal ligation, or sex change surgeries. The amendment creates a new and unlimited right for all individuals, male and female, regardless of age.
When something is made a constitutional right, any opposition to that right can be deemed as obstruction of that right. This amendment could be weaponized against parents who question their child’s gender confusion, pregnancy centers who offer alternatives to abortion, and healthcare practitioners who refuse participation in these procedures. If something is a constitutional right, money cannot be a barrier; therefore, all Marylanders will also be paying for these elective and/or experimental procedures through Medicaid and private health insurance.
Whether Republican, Democrat or Independent, pro-choice or pro-life, Marylanders can agree that parents must retain authority in the healthcare and education decisions for their children. Voting YES on the amendment allows children to obtain reproductive and/or gender interventions without parents ever knowing, much less consenting.
Protect children and preserve parental rights by voting NO on Question 1. Spread the word!
Learn more at http://www.healthnotharmMD.org
