Maine House Passes Bill Legalizing Abortions Up to Birth

( LifeNews )

Ignoring massive public opposition, Maine House lawmakers narrowly passed a radical pro-abortion bill Thursday night to legalize killing unborn babies in abortions up to birth.

The late-term abortion bill passed by just two votes, with 74 in favor and 72 against after at least one lawmaker changed his mind and opposed the late-term abortion expansion. It now heads to the state Senate, which Democrats also control.

After a long debate Thursday, five democrats and one independent joined Republicans in voting against the bill, including co-sponsor state Rep. Walter Riseman, I-Harrison, the AP reports.

Riseman said the current state abortion law is “doing its job. Let’s stop now before we get in too deep.”

The bill, LD 1619, which Gov. Janet Mills, a pro-abortion Democrat, introduced earlier this year, would legalize abortions up to birth for any reason an abortionist deems “necessary.” Currently, abortions are prohibited after 24 weeks.

The bill is especially dangerous and discriminatory toward children with disabilities. As an example of the supposed need for late-term abortions, Mills shared the story of a baby boy in Maine who was diagnosed with a potentially fatal disorder before birth, according to the AP. The governor asserted the mother should have been allowed to abort her late-term, fully-formed son in Maine just because he had a disability.

Thousands of Maine residents have showed up at the state Capitol to protest the abortion expansion this spring. In May, more than 2,200 attended a pro-life rally, and nearly 700 testified against the bill while only 65 testified in favor.

On Thursday outside the House Chamber, pro-life advocates lined the hallway with signs urging lawmakers to “protect late-term babies” and reminding them that unborn babies’ “lives matter,” according to Maine Public Radio.

Inside the chamber, state Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, became teary as she begged her peers to protect unborn babies, the report continues.

“It would allow painful abortions right up until birth without any medical reason. This is not a compassionate bill. If it were, I would vote for it,” Arata said.

Republicans and one Democrat introduced amendments to add at least some protections for viable, late-term unborn babies in the bill, but none passed, according to the report.

After the vote, state House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, condemned the action, saying, “The stench in this building is overwhelming,” according to the AP.

Polls consistently show strong public opposition to late-term abortions. The vast majority of Americans recognize that babies in the womb should be protected, at the very least, once they are viable.

Karen Vachon, executive director of Maine Right to Life, said Mills is returning a favor to the Planned Parenthood abortion chain, which “spent millions buying elections in Maine and around the country.”

“Pro-abortion leaders have lied repeatedly about their true intention,” Vachon said. “During the campaign in 2022, they were content with the law the way it was. In January, they announced they would propose a narrow expansion to address specific instances of tragic fetal disease and debilitation. Now they’ve moved the goal post once again, proposing abortion on demand, with no limitations to the point of birth.”

Research about late-term abortions indicates that viable unborn babies are aborted for elective reasons in states where the killing practice is legal.

A recent study from ANSIRH at the University of California found women have third-trimester abortions for a number of reasons: “The reasons people need third-trimester abortions are not so different from why people need abortions before the third trimester… [T]he circumstances that lead to someone needing a third-trimester abortion have overlaps with the pathways to abortion at other gestations.”

In Maine, the state health department reported 1,931 abortions in 2018.