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Declaration of Rights - Right to Reproductive Freedom | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source:Maryland State Board of Elections | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The2024 Maryland Question 1 was a voter referendum that appeared on the ballot on November 5, 2024. It established in theConstitution of Maryland a right to reproductive freedom. The referendum was approved overwhelmingly, with more than three times as many voters voting in favor of it than against it, and only losing inGarrett County.
The ballot measure reads as follows:[1]
Question 1
Constitutional Amendment
The proposed amendment confirms an individual's fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including, but not limited to, the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end the individual's pregnancy, and provides that 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.
The choices read as follows:[1]
For the Constitutional Amendment
Against the Constitutional Amendment
In 1992, Maryland voters approvedQuestion 6, which upheld a state law to codifyRoe v. Wade and guaranteed the right to an abortion, with 62 percent of voters approving the measure and 38 percent opposed.[2]
In August 2018, Speaker of the Maryland House of DelegatesMichael E. Busch endorsed efforts to codify the right to an abortion into the state constitution, citing fears that theU.S. Supreme Court would overturn its ruling inRoe v. Wade andPlanned Parenthood v. Casey, which held that theU.S. Constitution protected a woman's right to have an abortion.[3][4] Republican GovernorLarry Hogan, who personally opposes abortion, expressed support for the measure, but also questioned if a constitutional amendment to codify abortion protections was necessary.[5] During the 2019 legislative session, Busch introduced legislation to create a 2020 referendum on enshrining abortion protects into the state constitution, but he withdrew it early into the session after Senate PresidentThomas V. Miller Jr. said he was reluctant to move it forward, following protests against late-term abortion bills inNew York andVirginia.[6]
In May 2019, following the election ofAdrienne A. Jones as House Speaker, and after theAlabama General Assembly passed theHuman Life Protection Act, Jones said she would continue Busch's efforts to enshrine abortion protection into the state constitution.[7] As the Supreme Court began consideringDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, she introduced legislation to create a referendum on codifying abortion rights,[8] which passed theMaryland House of Delegates by a 93–42 vote,[9][10] but the bill died in theMaryland Senate after Senate PresidentBill Ferguson declined to put it up for a vote.[11] The legislature also passed the Abortion Care Access Act, which provided $3.5 million toward clinical training for reproductive services, which became law after lawmakers overrode Governor Hogan's veto on the bill.[12]
In June 2022, after the Supreme Court ruled inDobbs, and overturnedRoe andCasey, Jones committed to re-introducing the bill during the 2023 legislative session. The court's ruling also made relevant the issue of abortion in the2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, with all Democratic candidates promising to support Jones' measure; Republican candidateKelly Schulz said that she was "personallypro-life", but would not change "current Maryland law" toward abortion if elected governor, while her challenger, far-right state delegateDan Cox, celebrated theDobbs decision and vowed to end taxpayer funding for abortions as governor.[13]
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During the 2023 legislative session, Jones again introduced legislation to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution,[14] which passed, and was signed into law by GovernorWes Moore, along with a package of bills to protect patients who come to Maryland seeking abortion rights from out-of-state criminal prosecution.[15][16]
The amendment was approved by the House on March 10, 2023, with 99 yeas, 37 nays, and 4 absent delegates.[17] Before the vote, Republicans unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill, with state delegateWilliam J. Wivell introducing two amendments to give constitutional protections to the "preborn" and another replacing the phrase "reproductive freedom" with "abortion", and state delegateApril Fleming Miller introducing an amendment replacing the word "person" with "woman"; all three amendments were defeated in party-line votes.[18]
| Party | Votes for | Votes against | Absent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (102) | 99
| – | ||
| Republican (39) | – | 37
| ||
| Total (140)[a] | 99 | 37 | 4 | |
The amendment was approved by the Senate on March 31, 2023, with 33 yeas and 14 nays.[19] Republican state senatorBryan Simonaire introduced an amendment to ban abortions afterfetal viability, which failed by a vote of 13–33, and another amendment to the Senate crossfile version of the bill that would excludegender-affirming surgery for minors without parental consent under the bill's definition of reproductive freedom, which was rejected by a vote of 14–32.[20]
| Party | Votes for | Votes against | Abstentions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (34) | 33
| – | ||
| Republican (13) | – | – | ||
| Total (47) | 33 | 14 | 0 | |
Question 1 was supported by Freedom in Reproduction — Maryland, which was made up of leaders from organizations includingPlanned Parenthood Maryland, the Baltimore Abortion Fund, and the Women's Law Center of Maryland. It was opposed by Health Not Harm MD, which was chaired by Deborah Brocato, a lobbyist forMaryland Right to Life.[21][22] After PresidentJoe Biden withdrew from the2024 United States presidential election, supporters of Question 1 reported an increase in people interested in volunteering for efforts to support the ballot initiative.[23] As of October 2024, pro-Question 1 groups have outraised and outspent the referendum's opponents 5-to-1.[24]
Abortion access is widely popular in Maryland, and, as such, an intense campaign focused on Question 1 similar to the one advocates faced in1992 was considered to be unlikely.[24] The amendment's opponents claimed that its passage would allow children to receivegender-affirming care without their parents' consent; the amendment's supporters, including former Maryland First LadyKatie O'Malley, have called this a misinterpretation of the amendment's language, saying that it would only apply to issues like abortion,birth control, andIn vitro fertilisation.[25]
The issue of abortion became a key issue in the concurrent2024 United States Senate election in Maryland, in which Democratic nomineeAngela Alsobrooks heavily criticized Republican nomineeLarry Hogan for his 2022 veto of the Abortion Care Access Act.[24] Despite this, both candidates said they would vote for Question 1.[26][27]
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| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size[b] | Margin of error | For | Against | Other/ Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouGov[49][c] | October 23–27, 2024 | 500 (LV) | ± 5.2% | 75% | 18% | 7%[d] |
| University of Maryland, Baltimore County[50] | September 23–28, 2024 | 862 (LV) | ± 3.3% | 69% | 21% | 10% |
| OpinionWorks[51] | October 20–23, 2022 | 982 (LV) | ± 3.1% | 71% | 19% | 11% |
| University of Maryland[52] | September 22–27, 2022 | 810 (RV) | ± 4.0% | 78% | 16% | 5% |
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Yes | 2,199,319 | 76.06 |
| No | 692,219 | 23.94 |
| Total votes | 2,891,538 | 100.00 |
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections[53][54]
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"Yes" won all eight congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.[56]
| District | Yes | No | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 65% | 35% | Andy Harris |
| 2nd | 74% | 26% | Dutch Ruppersberger (118th Congress) |
| Johnny Olszewski (119th Congress) | |||
| 3rd | 75% | 25% | John Sarbanes (118th Congress) |
| Sarah Elfreth (119th Congress) | |||
| 4th | 87% | 13% | Glenn Ivey |
| 5th | 77% | 23% | Steny Hoyer |
| 6th | 68% | 32% | David Trone (118th Congress) |
| April McClain Delaney (119th Congress) | |||
| 7th | 84% | 16% | Kweisi Mfume |
| 8th | 83% | 17% | Jamie Raskin |
also said he would vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state's Constitution, a measure that will be on the ballot in November
The full text of2024 Maryland Question 1 at Wikisource
