The 2024 Maryland Question 1 was a voter referendum that appeared on the ballot on November 5, 2024. It established in the

Constitution of Maryland The current Constitution of the State of Maryland, which was ratified by the people of the state on September 18, 1867, forms the basic law for the U.S. state of Maryland. It replaced the short-lived Maryland Constitution of 1864 and is the fou ...

a right to reproductive freedom. The referendum was approved overwhelmingly, with more than three times as many voters voting in favor of it than against it, and only losing in

Garrett County Garrett County () is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland, completely within the Appalachian Mountains. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 28,806, making it the third-least populous county in Maryland. Its ...

Ballot measure

The ballot measure reads as follows: The choices read as follows:

History

In 1992, Maryland voters approved Question 6, which upheld a state law to codify ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'' and guaranteed the right to an abortion, with 62 percent of voters approving the measure and 38 percent opposed. In August 2018, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Michael E. Busch endorsed efforts to codify the right to an abortion into the state constitution, citing fears that the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

would overturn its ruling in ''Roe v. Wade'' and ''

Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of '' Roe v. Wade'' (1973) ...

'', which held that the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

protected a woman's right to have an abortion. Republican Governor

Larry Hogan Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr. (born May 25, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 62nd governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party and son of three-term U.S. representative Lawrence Hogan, he served as co-ch ...

, who personally opposes abortion, expressed support for the measure, but also questioned if a constitutional amendment to codify abortion protections was necessary. During the 2019 legislative session, Busch introduced legislation to create a 2020 referendum on enshrining abortion protects into the state constitution, but he withdrew it early into the session after Senate President

Thomas V. Miller Jr. Thomas Vincent Miller Jr. (December 3, 1942 – January 15, 2021), known as Mike Miller, was an American politician from Maryland. He had been a state senator representing the 27th District ( Calvert, Charles, and Prince George's Counties) from ...

said he was reluctant to move it forward, following protests against late-term abortion bills in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. In May 2019, following the election of Adrienne A. Jones as House Speaker, and after the Alabama General Assembly passed the Human Life Protection Act, Jones said she would continue Busch's efforts to enshrine abortion protection into the state constitution. As the Supreme Court began considering ''

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court in which the court held ...

'' in 2022, she introduced legislation to create a referendum on codifying abortion rights, which passed the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

by a 93–42 vote, but the bill died in the

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single ...

after Senate President Bill Ferguson declined to put it up for a vote. The legislature also passed the Abortion Care Access Act, which provided $3.5 million toward clinical training for reproductive services, which became law after lawmakers overrode Governor Hogan's veto on the bill. In June 2022, after the Supreme Court ruled in ''Dobbs'', and overturned ''Roe'' and ''Casey'', Jones committed to re-introducing the bill during the 2023 legislative session. The court's ruling also made relevant the issue of abortion in the

2022 Maryland gubernatorial election The 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the next governor of Maryland. Incumbent Governor Larry Hogan was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term. This was the first gubernatorial elect ...

, with all Democratic candidates promising to support Jones' measure; Republican candidate Kelly Schulz said that she was "personally

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the lega ...

", but would not change "current Maryland law" toward abortion if elected governor, while her challenger, far-right state delegate

Dan Cox Daniel Lewis Cox (born August 9, 1974) is an American politician and lawyer who was a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing the Maryland Legislative District 4, fourth district from 2 ...

, celebrated the ''Dobbs'' decision and vowed to end taxpayer funding for abortions as governor. During the 2023 legislative session, Jones again introduced legislation to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution, which passed, and was signed into law by Governor

Wes Moore Westley Watende Omari Moore (born October 15, 1978) is an American politician, businessman, author, and former U.S. Army officer serving as the 63rd governor of Maryland since 2023. Moore was born in Maryland and raised primarily in New York. ...

, along with a package of bills to protect patients who come to Maryland seeking abortion rights from out-of-state criminal prosecution.

House vote

The amendment was approved by the House on March 10, 2023, with 99 yeas, 37 nays, and 4 absent delegates. Before the vote, Republicans unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill, with state delegate William J. Wivell introducing two amendments to give constitutional protections to the "preborn" and another replacing the phrase "reproductive freedom" with "abortion", and state delegate April Fleming Miller introducing an amendment replacing the word "person" with "woman"; all three amendments were defeated in party-line votes. 2024 Maryland abortion referendum house vote

Senate vote

The amendment was approved by the Senate on March 31, 2023, with 33 yeas and 14 nays. Republican state senator

Bryan Simonaire Bryan Warner Simonaire (born September 6, 1963) is an American politician who serves as a Maryland state senator representing District 31, which encompasses much of northern Anne Arundel County's Baltimore suburbs. A member of the Republican Pa ...

introduced an amendment to ban abortions after

fetal viability Fetal viability is the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus. Viability depends upon factors such as birth weight, gestational age, and the availability of advanced medical care. In low-income countries, more than 90% of extr ...

, which failed by a vote of 13–33, and another amendment to the Senate crossfile version of the bill that would exclude

gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

for minors without parental consent under the bill's definition of reproductive freedom, which was rejected by a vote of 14–32. 2024 Maryland abortion referendum senate vote

2024 Maryland abortion referendum senate vote

Campaign

Question 1 was supported by Freedom in Reproduction — Maryland, which was made up of leaders from organizations including

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

Maryland, the Baltimore Abortion Fund, and the Women's Law Center of Maryland. It was opposed by Health Not Harm MD, which was chaired by Deborah Brocato, a lobbyist for Maryland Right to Life. After President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

withdrew from the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

, supporters of Question 1 reported an increase in people interested in volunteering for efforts to support the ballot initiative. As of October 2024, pro-Question 1 groups have outraised and outspent the referendum's opponents 5-to-1. Abortion access is widely popular in Maryland, and, as such, an intense campaign focused on Question 1 similar to the one advocates faced in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

was considered to be unlikely. The amendment's opponents claimed that its passage would allow children to receive

gender-affirming care Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions which affect transgender individuals.Gorton N, Grubb HM (2014). General, Sexual, and Reproductive health. In L. Erickson-Schroth. ...

without their parents' consent; the amendment's supporters, including former Maryland First Lady Katie O'Malley, have called this a misinterpretation of the amendment's language, saying that it would only apply to issues like abortion,

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

, and

In vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

. The issue of abortion became a key issue in the concurrent

2024 United States Senate election in Maryland The 2024 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Maryland. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Prince George's County, Maryland, Pr ...

, in which Democratic nominee

Angela Alsobrooks Angela Deneece Alsobrooks (born February 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2025 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Maryland. A member of the Democrati ...

heavily criticized Republican nominee

for his 2022 veto of the Abortion Care Access Act. Despite this, both candidates said they would vote for Question 1.

Endorsements

Opinion polls

Results

Source: Maryland State Board of Elections

By county

By congressional district

"Yes" won all 8 congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.

Notes

References

External links

*
Maryland House Bill 705
at Legiscan
Maryland Right to Reproductive Freedom Act (2024)
at

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{{2024 United States elections November 2024 in the United States 2024 Maryland elections

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

U.S. state constitutional amendments Abortion in the United States Abortion referendums

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