Sen. Carney earns perfect score for voting record to protect reproductive rights

AUGUSTA – Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, earned a perfect score from Planned Parenthood Maine for protecting reproductive rights and access to health care for Mainers. Sen. Carney is one of 22 senators to earn a perfect score for their 2021 voting record from Planned Parenthood Maine.

“Abortion is critical, fundamental health care that must not be delayed or restricted. Abortion care is health care that needs to be recognized, accessible and covered by insurance,” said Sen. Carney. “It’s beyond time for the United States – whether it’s Maine or Mississippi – to recognize that access to abortion care is a human rights issue. It is our right to shape our families, to access the health care we need and to decide when or whether we have children. All people should have the ability to make decisions about their lives and bodies. I promise to keep advocating for these rights.”

Despite overwhelming public support for abortion access across the country, states enacted more than 100 abortion restrictions in a single year, including the draconian Texas abortion ban. When the Maine Legislature debated similar proposals, state lawmakers stood together to reject harmful bills and protect Mainers’ access to abortion and reproductive health care.

In the Legislature, Sen. Carney voted against legislation that would have required health care professionals to provide false information to pregnant patients that it may be possible to reverse the effects of an abortion-inducing drug, sought to remove abortion coverage under MaineCare, and would have forced a pregnant person to undergo an ultrasound and receive information about alternatives to abortion at least 48 hours before she could have an abortion.

Planned Parenthood scored Maine legislators on their votes on six bills that tried to undermine access to abortion in our state. One of the proposals rejected by lawmakers advocated for a practice considered by health care professionals to be medically dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening to the patient.

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.

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