Maine ends penalties for late-term abortions

Mainers will soon be able to get an abortion at any point in their pregnancies if it’s deemed medically necessary, under a new law that ends limitations on the procedure after about 24 weeks of gestation.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed legislation this week to remove criminal penalties for clinicians who perform abortions after a fetus is considered viable—or able to survive outside the uterus—and regulate abortion like other medical procedures. The law, which is among the least restrictive abortion measures in the country, is set to take effect this fall.

The measure came as part of a larger legislative response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of abortion protections granted under Roe v. Wade.

“Maine is following best medical practice by modernizing our laws to get politicians out of reproductive health care and to make clear that the difficult decision of whether to have an abortion later in pregnancy will be made by a woman and her doctor—not anyone else,” Mills said in a statement.

Mills and legislative leaders, who introduced the proposal in January, said it was inspired by a Maine resident who in 2019 traveled to Colorado for a late-term abortion after learning that her fetus was diagnosed with a deadly form of skeletal dysplasia.

Maine law allows for abortions to take place later in pregnancy if the pregnant person’s health or life is at risk. But abortion proponents argued that the language fell short in addressing various circumstances that can occur during pregnancy.

Mills also recently signed legislation that ensures access to reproductive health services remain intact and affordable during health-provider consolidations and mergers, as well as strengthens protections for people who travel to Maine for abortions. Other new laws prohibit health plans from imposing deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and other cost-sharing requirements for abortions, and prevent local ordinances from threatening abortion access.