Sen. Anne Carney earns perfect score for voting record on reproductive rights

AUGUSTA – Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, earned a perfect score from Planned Parenthood Maine for votes to protect reproductive rights and improve access to health care. Sen. Carney is one of 21 senators to earn a perfect score for their 2021-2022 voting record.

“Health care, including reproductive health care, is a human right. We’ve protected privacy, reproductive freedom, and access to abortion care in Maine despite threats that are sweeping across the country,” said Sen. Carney. “Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, I am committed to ensuring that decisions about reproductive health care and abortion remain the private decisions of patients and their providers in our state.”

Planned Parenthood scored Maine legislators on their votes on nine bills, including six anti-abortion bills. This year, the Legislature passed a new law that requires state-regulated health insurance plans to cover contraceptives that best meet a patient’s health needs as determined by the patient and their trusted health care professional. Lawmakers also took action to create a “medical safety zone” to protect patients’ safety when accessing care, a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Carney. 

As the Senate Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary, Sen. Carney conducts hearings on many of the bills introduced in the Legislature relating to Mainers’ constitutional rights and reproductive freedom. \

In recent months, there have been an unprecedented number of attacks on abortion access around the country, including several states that are enacting near-total bans on abortion. With the Supreme Court expected to overturn Roe v. Wade, as indicated in the leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the responsibility to protect abortion access will fall to state legislatures. In Maine, Democratic lawmakers have blocked the passage of extreme anti-abortion laws, similar to laws that have been adopted in other states. Every Democrat in the Maine Senate received a 100 percent score from Planned Parenthood. 

Planned Parenthood provides reproductive and other health care services, including abortion care, immunizations and cancer screenings. 

The complete Maine Senate legislative scorecard can be found here.