REPRODUCTIVE AND
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Women are the backbone for a progressing nation and are equally important in any society as men. However, gender inequality disproportionately affects women and girls, including lower pay, less access to opportunity, and inadequate healthcare. Today, the assault on a woman's right to have an abortion is a perpetuation of this discriminatory history. We must do all we can to protect and advance a women's right to choose to have an abortion. We must also breakdown the structural barriers that continue to limit a woman's access to equal status as men.
CURRENT FACTS
-
In 2020, Maryland women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,074, or 86.1 percent of the $1,248 median usual weekly earnings of their male counterparts, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The 2020 women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio of 86.1 percent compared to 89.1 percent in 2019. Nationwide, women earned $891 per week, or 82.3 percent of the $1,082 median for men.
-
Women’s average earnings are less than men’s at every education level. 49% of Maryland’s workforce is female while 60% of minimum wage workers are women.
-
Single-parent households headed by a female had a poverty rate of 29.1% in Maryland, versus just 7.9% of all Maryland families and the annual cost of childcare in Maryland can exceed the cost of sending a child to college.
-
Of all adult women residing in Maryland, 19%, or about 457,000 adult women, have experienced any form of completed or attempted rape in their lifetime. About 44%, or 1,058,000 of Maryland’s women, and more than 23% of Maryland’s men, about 520,800, have experienced other forms of sexual violence.
POLICY POSITION
-
Enact a constitutional amendment in Maryland to codify abortion rights so that no future administration can limit access
-
Amend state requirements that abortions be performed by a physician and enable midwives and nurse practitioners to perform the procedure.
-
Allow pharmacists with certified training to prescribe and dispense certain types of hormonal contraceptives, such as the pill, the ring, and the patch.
-
Require all Maryland employers to provide paid family leave.
-
Require public and private health insurance to cover abortions as medical procedures and ensure that patient co-pays for reproductive services are not exorbitant.
-
Mandate the inclusion of all forms of contraceptive coverage on health insurance plans.
-
Declare Hospital OB/GYN wards and birthing centers in Maryland declared sanctuary spaces for undocumented individuals seeking care.
