Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Michael Busch, together with Maryland Senate President Thomas "Mike” Miller, are two of the three most powerful politicians in Maryland’s state government. Michael Busch has served in the House of Delegates since 1987 and has been speaker since 2003, while Mike Miller has served in the Senate since 1975 and has been President since 1987. I have been involved in an organization that lobbies the Maryland legislature for progressive legislation such as minimum wage, guaranteed sick leave, and landlord-tenant reform. I learned on day 1 that NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, gets enacted without the support of Michael Busch and MIke Miller. Both men have maintained ironclad support from most Democrats in the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. While Republican Governor Larry Hogan, who is at this point favored to win reelection, is now the third leg of this power base, a Republican in the Governor’s Mansion only strengthens the power of Busch and Miller and their virtual control of the veto proof majority in both houses that the Democrats enjoy.
That’s why it is so significant that, earlier today, Speaker Michael Busch proposed to amend the state constitution to guarantee a woman's right to an abortion in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned. If Michael Busch proposes anything, it passes the House of Delegates! And if Mike Miller gets on board, it will pass the Senate.
In 1991, the legislature enacted, and DINO Governor William Donald Schaefer signed into law, legislation that guaranteed the rights that SCOTUS had established in the Roe decision. The Senate passed the measure after supporters overcame a bitter filibuster by anti-abortion senators. The anti-abortion people secured enough signatures to petition the measure to referendum, but in 1992 the voters of Maryland voted to uphold a woman’s right to make this decision.
The law enacted in 1991 and approved by the voters in 1992, requires that abortions be performed by licensed doctors only, and may be performed at any time regardless of reason until the fetus is viable, that is, is able to survive outside the womb. Thereafter, an abortion may be performed to protect the life or health of the mother, or where the fetus has a serious genetic defect. The parents of an unmarried minor must first be notified, unless the child does not live with a parent and attempts to notify the parents have been unsuccessful, or if notifying the parents may lead to physical or emotional abuse, or if in the physician’s judgment the child is mature enough to provide informed consent, or if in the opinion of the physician notification to the parents would not otherwise not be in the child’s best interest.
The Baltimore Sun editorial to which I linked argues that, despite this statute, a constitutional amendment is still needed. First, a repeal of Roe will likely lead the anti-abortion zealots in Maryland to demand that this law be repealed and abortion be re-criminalized, as it will be in many other states. Second, the Sun argues that enacting these protections into Maryland’s constitution may help to dissuade one or more members of the right wing SCOTUS majority from repealing Roe. The editorial speculates that the support for marriage equality that the voters of Maryland, Washington, Maine and Minnesota showed in 2012 may have encouraged Justice Kennedy to affirm marriage equality as a constitutional right.
Remember, the mere fact that Speaker Michael Busch is proposing this constitutional amendment means that in all likelihood it will receive the 3/5 vote in the House of Delegates required for a constitutional amendment. And if Senate President Mike MIller joins Michael Busch, it will almost as likely pass the Senate with the 3/5 vote and will appear on the ballot in 2020 for the voters of Maryland to decide.
