paul lepage

Decades after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion throughout the U.S., the ability to access that right looks dangerously fragile. Missouri's sole abortion clinic is struggling to stay open. Eight states have tried to ban abortion after
"cardiac activity" is detected, which is usually around the sixth week of pregnancy -- when the embryo is about the size of a pomegranate seed and well before most women know they are pregnant. Alabama Republicans recently passed a bill designed to nullify Roe altogether, though its chances of success don't seem high. But as grim as the news tends to be, there are still reasons for optimism. Some states have actually expanded abortion access this year, and on Monday, Maine became one of them.

The state's newly elected Democratic governor, Janet Mills, signed a bill that will allow nurse practitioners, osteopathic physicians, and physicians assistants to perform abortion procedures. "States across the country, including Vermont and New Hampshire, have already eliminated this outdated restriction on abortion care," state House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Democrat, said in a press release praising the new law. Maine's new law also resembles elements of New York's recently passed Reproductive Health Act, which allows some medical professionals who aren't doctors to perform abortions. In Maine, as in New York, the expansion will significantly increase abortion availability at a time when other, more conservative states are determined to shrink that right into nonexistence.