Posted on 05/07/2022 1:00:55 AM PDT by Morgana
Amid intense focus on abortion rights, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has decided to withhold the $3.5 million that state lawmakers designated for training new providers, his spokesman said.
The decision effectively delays the state’s new abortion provider training program for a year and comes as the popular governor winds down his time in office and sharpens his national ambitions.
The money is part of the state’s biggest expansion of abortion access in three decades. Hogan vetoed the plans this spring but was overruled by Democratic supermajorities in Annapolis who worried that what they see as Maryland’s already insufficient provider network would become overwhelmed if nearby states outlawed abortion. Abortion advocates are bracing for an influx of patients.
Hogan’s use of discretionary budgetary power illustrates how an antiabortion leader can thwart new programs even in liberal states such as Maryland that have deeply supported abortion rights for decades.
“There have been a lot of people who voted for people who did not share their values on choice, and they figured it wouldn’t matter. And now we’re seeing elections have consequences,” said Del. Ariana B. Kelly (D-Montgomery), the lead sponsor of Maryland’s abortion access law.
“If someone is running for public office and tells you they don’t support reproductive rights, believe them,” she said.
Hogan, a Catholic who says he is personally against abortion, was twice elected in a state where 88 percent of residents think abortion should be legal. He has been silent this week after a leaked draft opinion signaled the possibility that the Supreme Court would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide. Hogan has promised not to try to change Maryland’s long-standing abortion laws, enacted after a public referendum in the early 1990s.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Maryland ping
PING!
“in a state where 88 percent of residents think abortion should be legal”
As an MD resident that sounds incredibly high, even for a state that is overwhelmingly D.
Hogan is worse than evil...he is a Democrat.
THis is one of the few things Hogan has done in the last two years I can support.
You want to dismember babies and suck their brains out? Pay for the training yourself
Let me know if you want on/off this list.....
“ the popular governor”
Hogan is a so-called Republican who is popular with Trump-hating Republicans and with Democrats.
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