Two Maryland senators who support abortion rights are hoping to steer state funds to abortion clinics to bolster security measures, as clinics that provide reproductive health services see increases in threats and harassment following the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.
There are two bills in the 2024 legislative session aiming to create grants that would be used to increase security personnel, add equipment and other security measures to protect the safety of providers, patients and their families. But the mechanisms to provide those protections and funds are quite different between the two bills.
The Senate Finance committee discussed both pieces of legislation during a Wednesday committee meeting.
The first bill, Senate Bill 947, is sponsored by Sen. Ariana B. Kelly (D-Montgomery) and would create the Abortion Care Access Grant Program and Fund. The grant program and funding would be administered by the Maryland Department of Health under Kelly’s bill.
“It would create a grant that improves access to abortion care. So grants for security, equipment, capital improvements, for security staffing,” she said.
The bill would utilize funds provided from a requirement in the Affordable Care Act, in which insurers collect a premium that would go towards abortion services. Excess funds would be required to be used for improving abortion care in the state.
Kelly explained: “It was required through the Affordable Care Act that insurance carriers…collect a separate premium for abortion coverage. And that that premium, which was one dollar per member per month, be completely segregated and only used for abortion care services.”
Robyn Elliott, representing the Women’s Law Center of Maryland, told the committee that if the bill passes, the Maryland commissioner of insurance would assess insurance carriers to see “how much funding was in surplus in the prior plan year, and then issue an order to move that funding over to the Department of Health.”.
The bill requires the governor to allocate $1 million for the fund through a budget amendment by Oct. 1, 2024.
Jakeya Johnson with Reproductive Justice Maryland, said that the bill is about “recognizing and addressing the threats that individual seeking abortion care face.
“Particularly in the form of harassment, intimidation and sometimes even physical harm directed at them, their providers and advocates,” she said. “Far too often these spaces become targets for harassment and violence, and an atmosphere of fear and insecurity for both patients and providers. By investing in security enhancement, we can help to deter harassment and violence, and ensure that individuals can access abortion care without fear for their safety.”
A different bill would create a much smaller grant fund, still aiming to protect abortion clinics from harassment.
SB 975, sponsored by Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth (D-Anne Arundel), would instead create a Reproductive Health Care Clinic Security Grant Program out of the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, and would require $500,000 in funding in the 2026 fiscal year.
The funding in Elfreth’s bill would go towards physical security infrastructure in health care clinics, but not towards additional security staffing of clinics.
“This committee is well familiar with the rising tide of violence to our reproductive health care clinics,” she said, citing written testimony that included increased instances of violence, stalking, burglaries, and arson, among other threatening behaviors.
Kelly said that she and Elfreth are working together on the bills.
SB 975 is “positioned slightly differently, but we are working together cooperatively…
This article was originally published by a www.marylandmatters.org . Read the Original article here. .