Abortion: Human Rights as a Political Issue

Jeanette E. Sherbondy • October 15, 2024

“Abortion” seems to encapsulate the current political concerns about women’s health — a narrow focus, but a crucial point: Ban it or legalize it? We already know from centuries of experience what the results are of banning it, so why is it an issue in 2024 election?

Abortion is a key piece of the fascist restrictions on women’s health in the GOP’s Project 2025 — the roadmap for the next Republican administration.

Simply put, the GOP plans to ban it and punish it.

Comparing Democratic and Republican candidates, the pattern is for the former to restore it to legal status and to look into other issues regarding women’s health, such as deaths in childbirth.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacted to the recent backlash to banning of abortion in Florida by stating during the presidential debate that he would not sign a nation abortion ban into law. This is Trump’s latest attempt to play down his earlier position on this issue to appeal to women voters, but he celebrated the overturning of Roe v Wade and took credit for it, in the past.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris stated, “When congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will sign it into law.” She wrote she would never allow a national abortion ban to become law.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, however, has said abortion should be “illegal nationally” with no exceptions for rape or incest. “Two wrongs don’t make a right” was his nonsensical statement. He opposed President Biden’s reproductive care privacy rule. He wants to leave legislation to the states.

During the vice presidential candidates’ debate, Vance declared “I never supported a national ban. I did during when I was running for Senate in 2020 talk about setting some minimum national standard.”

However, in an article by The Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler (Washington Post, October 6, 2024) responded by saying that “Vance is being disingenuous here. He backed a law that would impose a nationwide limit of 15 weeks for when women could get an abortion — which would overturn the laws of many liberal states. In 2022, Vance said: ‘I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.’ Moreover, last year, he urged the Justice Department to enforce the Comstock Act, a 151-year-old federal law that bans the mailing of abortion-related materials. The Biden administration has not invoked the law, but a more conservative one could, thus limiting abortion rights even without any new laws.”

Democratic vice presidential candidate Walz on the other hand wants to legalize the right to abortion and reproductive health into law and has done so for Minnesota, including protection for access to abortion in Minnesota for out-of-state patients.”

Republican senatorial candidate for Maryland, Larry Hogan, says, if elected, he would vote to codify Roe v Wade; however, as governor of Maryland he vetoed measures broadening the range of health professionals who can provide abortion care and requiring more insurance coverage. Both vetoes were overturned by Maryland lawmakers. Additionally, if Hogan is part of a GOP-majority Senate, a vote to codify Roe v Wade will never reach the floor for a vote. Hogan also refused to release money the General Assembly had appropriated to train abortion providers; his successor, Democrat Wes Moore, released these funds on his first full day in office. As governor, Hogan negated the will of the majority of lawmakers, proving himself to be not a good executive for the state.

Angela Alsobrooks, Democratic candidate for Maryland senator, has stated strong support for women’s reproductive health. She promises to co-sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act, that would reinstate a nationwide right to abortion care, codifying the former Roe v. Wade decision the Supreme Court recently overturned. Even more strongly, she declares she will oppose any judicial nominee who does not support abortion rights. She firmly believes Congress and the Supreme Court should respect women’s health care decisions and leave them to be made between women and their doctors.

As for Congressional candidates for District 1, Republican Andrew P. Harris coyly avoids issuing statements, but his voting record in Congress reveals his opposition to women’s reproductive rights. He calls himself “pro-life.” In the 2000 legislative session he introduced a bill to ban abortions after fetal viability. More recently in 2021 he cosponsored the Life at Conception Act to ban all abortions. He celebrated the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

His opponent, Democrat Blaine Miller, is opposed to government oversight of women’s health decisions.

Clearly, the Democratic Party candidates in these elections support women’s reproductive rights and the Republican party candidates do not. In fact, the GOP is blindly unconcerned with women’s health, a national issue. This issue will become more of a national issue going far beyond concern with abortion and contraception in coming years.

Briefly, health has been studied primarily in men, not women, but now it has become vital to study women’s bodies and to understand how they differ from men’s bodies.

According to Cat Bohannon, PhD, author of Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (Knopf 2023), the male bias in animal studies as well as human studies is glaring. Expect to see new research that points out that general anesthesia and use of painkillers function very differently in women than in men.

We hope for more enlightened actions and attitudes, not less, from legislators and executives with regards to women’s health in general — reproductive, or not.

Jeanette E. Sherbondy is a retired anthropology professor from Washington College and has lived here since 1986. In retirement she has been active with the Kent County Historical Society and Sumner Hall, one of the organizers of Legacy Day, and helped get highway /historical markers recognizing Henry Highland Garnet. She published an article on her ethnohistorical research of the free Black village, Morgnec.

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Common Sense for the Eastern Shore

Six Reasons Why the House Budget Bill Will Hurt Rural America

By Michael Chameides, Barn Raiser • May 21, 2025

Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.

Who Will SNAP Cuts Affect in Maryland? On the Eastern Shore?

By Catlin Nchako, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities • May 21, 2025

The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.

Not Law Yet

By Jan Plotczyk • May 21, 2025

Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:

Eastern Shore Delegation: 2025 “Highlights”

By Jared Schablein, Shore Progress • May 13, 2025

Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.

Democrats reach historic goal: A full slate in Virginia House races

By Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury • May 12, 2025

For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.

2025 General Assembly Report: Results for Working Families on the Eastern Shore

By Jared Schablein, Shore Progress • April 22, 2025

The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.