Sen. Vitelli earns perfect score for voting record on reproductive rights
AUGUSTA – Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, earned a perfect score from Planned Parenthood Maine for votes to protect reproductive rights and improve access to health care. Sen. Vitelli is one of 21 senators to earn a perfect score for their 2021-2022 voting record.
“With the Supreme Court’s impending reversal of Roe v. Wade and with state legislatures across the country chipping away at reproductive rights, I’m more proud than ever to stand up for access to comprehensive health care, including abortion services,” said Sen. Vitelli. “My colleagues and I in Maine are not willing to be thrust back in time. Instead, we’ve expanded access to contraceptives, abortion care, fertility care, postpartum care and quality health care overall, while also instituting policies that support Maine children and families. I’m proud to have received a perfect score once again, and I’ll keep working to ensure that Maine people have control over if, when and how to start a family.”
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 better protect patients’ safety when accessing care.
Sen. Vitelli has been an outspoken supporter of reproductive rights for decades and dedicated her nearly 40-year career with New Ventures Maine to helping all Mainers – women in particular – build the knowledge and financial stability they need to live happy, healthy, independent lives. She was inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 1995.
To help support working families and ensure that Mainers are able to take time away from work to tend to their health, lasta year Sen. Vitelli cosponsored a law to study the development of a paid family and medical leave policy for Maine. This year, Sen. Vitelli cosponsored a law that created a medical safety zone outside of any building in which patients receive health services. Certain types of health care providers, like Planned Parenthood, are often targeted by protesters because they provide abortion care. The new law helps ensure that patients can receive the care they need without being denied access to the building through intimidation or physical barriers, and without having their care disrupted by undue noise.
In recent months, there have been an unprecedented number of attacks on abortion access around the country, including several states that have enacted near-total bans on abortion without exception for rape or incest. With the Supreme Court expected to repeal Roe v. Wade, as indicated in the leaked draft opinion last month, 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 already 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.
