Opening MaineCare to pay for abortions is critical to protect interest of low-income women

Compared to citizens of other states, Mainers seem to have a well-developed sense of fair play, regardless of political affiliation, religious background or economic status. This belief in a level playing field perhaps explains why Maine taxpayers support a wide range of services designed to help their less fortunate neighbors.

In turn, the breadth of services and the quality of life contribute to the state’s high ranking as one of the most desirable in the nation in which to raise a family.

The state’s commitment to family planning services for Maine women – regardless of income – is an important component of the “fairness equation” in this state. More than 34,000 women and teens make annual use of Maine Family Planning sites in more than 45 health centers statewide. Seventy-four percent of the patients are low-income.

According to a 2004 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine has the fifth-lowest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, the highest rate of oral contraceptive use among sexually active teens, the lowest abortion rate among teenagers 14 and younger, and an abortion rate less than half the national average.

While Maine continues to serve as a beacon of progressive policies in support of reproductive health of low-income women, one significant barrier remains to equal access to the full range of reproductive health services.

Thirty-one years ago, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortion services, except in instances of rape, incest or when a pregnant woman’s life is endangered by physical disorder, illness or injury.

Seventeen states use state funds to support abortion services for low-income women on the same or similar terms as other pregnancy related services. Most of these states are required by court order to include abortion services as an option in their Medicaid program.

Maine is not among them.

In Maine, poor women with MaineCare/Medicaid have to use money that would otherwise go to food, rent, or other necessities to pay for an abortion. In fact, 60 percent of women receiving Medicaid who become unintentionally pregnant already have at least one child in their household. The unfunded cost of an abortion for her affects not only her, but her children as well.

Although Maine’s nonprofit abortion providers make every effort to assure women have access to abortion care, it’s estimated that in Maine, as many as 300 women annually continue unintended pregnancies after discovering MaineCare is not an option to help support the cost of the abortion.

To assess what Mainers thought about this inequity, the Maine Choice Coalition hired Strategic Marketing Services in August 2006 to conduct a survey of 500 residents. The survey found 72 percent of respondents agreed that MaineCare should cover abortions a doctor determines are necessary to protect a woman’s health.

This finding is notable for its overwhelming support of the position that MaineCare should cover abortions, and reflects the notion Maine citizens believe in health care equality, regardless of one’s financial circumstances.

Nearly as noteworthy as the results was the composition of the respondents: the poll questioned 500 “likely” voters. There were slightly more Republicans (32.4 percent) than Democrats (31.4 percent) or independents (30.0 percent). There were slightly more men (52.2 percent) than women (47.8 percent) and 77 percent identified themselves as members of an organized religion.

In fact, a clear majority of members of Maine’s largest denominations agreed MaineCare should cover abortions that a doctor determines are necessary to protect a woman’s health: nearly 80 percent of respondents who identified themselves as mainstream Protestants and Christians; 70 percent of the self-identified Catholics; and 51 percent of those who identified themselves as Evangelical Protestants/Baptists.

Thirty-one years ago, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. exported the Hyde Amendment and imposed it on women in Maine and across the nation. In response, Maine Senate President Beth Edmonds has introduced “An Act to Provide Equity in Funding for Women’s Health Services,” to remedy this historical wrong.

As contentious as we expect this legislative battle to be, we are confident that Maine’s highly developed sense of equal justice will prevail, that no woman living in Maine will be forced to decide between paying her rent and accessing the constitutionally protected right to determine her reproductive future.

George A. Hill is President/CEO of the Family Planning Association of Maine in Augusta. Ruth Lockhart is Executive Director of the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center in Bangor.