Maine
Governor expands access to abortion later in pregnancy
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine will soon expand abortion access, joining a half dozen states that leave it to doctors and patients to make the decision without restrictions on timing.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill into law Wednesday that allows abortions at any time if deemed medically necessary by a doctor, making the law one of the nation’s least restrictive. The previous law banned abortions after a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, at roughly 24 weeks, but allowed an exception if the patient’s life is at risk.
“Maine law should recognize that every pregnancy, like every woman, is different, and that politicians cannot and should not try to legislate the wide variety of difficult circumstances pregnant women face,” Mills said before signing the bill.
The law goes into effect 90 days after the state Legislature’s session ends in the coming weeks.
Mills had said during her reelection campaign that the old law didn’t need to be changed. But she reversed course after learning of a Maine veterinarian who needed to travel to Colorado for an abortion after learning at week 32 of her pregnancy that her unborn son had a fatal condition that would not allow him to survive.
The veterinarian, Dana Peirce, was present at the bill signing, standing behind the lectern alongside medical providers in white jackets, several lawmakers and the executive director of the Maine Council of Churches.
Passage of the bill was considered a foregone conclusion in the Legislature where Democrats controlled both chambers, and there were enough co-sponsors to ensure passage.
But the bill nonetheless generated emotional debate.
Critics said the law’s language was broader than necessary if the goal was simply to allow abortions in instances of a fatal fetal anomaly later in a pregnancy. They said it could lead to a dramatic increase in post-viability abortions, and that it puts too much faith in doctors to make a determination.
Large numbers of protesters were not in the State House on Wednesday as they were during the legislative debate. Instead, a lone demonstrator stood outside the governor’s cabinet room holding a sign that called the law a “death sentence” for unborn babies in red letters.
Abortions later in pregnancy, known as termination for medical reasons or TFMRs, are rare. Nationally, about 1% happen after 21 weeks, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallies, which do not have full data from every state.
Nationally, many Republican-controlled states are doing just the opposite from what Maine did by either banning or restricting abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a patient’s constitutional right to an abortion, leaving it up to individual states to regulate the procedure.
Most Democratic-controlled states have taken steps to protect abortion access, though none has gone as far as Maine since the Supreme Court ruling last year.
Beside Maine, six states leave the decision to get an abortion to doctors and their patients, without restrictions. They are Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, Peirce recounted her painful decision to have an abortion to spare further pain for her unborn son, and she said she’s pleased that others facing the same circumstances will have a choice to have an abortion in Maine.
“I do want to recognize that another mother might not make the choice that I did, but I would never seek to take that decision away from her,” Peirce said.
The Rev. Jane Field of the Maine Council of Churches said that the group’s more than 400 congregations support the bill rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to abortion.
“We do not believe that anyone should be forced to remain pregnant by the government against the advice of their own doctor,” Field said.
Connecticut
A man wrongly convicted in the 1994 fatal shooting of a baby sues the city of New Haven and police
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man who was exonerated after serving 28 years in prison for killing a baby in 1994 has filed a lawsuit against the city of New Haven and six now-former police officers involved in his arrest.
Adam Carmon, 51, was convicted of murder and other crimes and sentenced to 85 years in prison for the shooting that killed 7-month-old Danielle Taft and paralyzed her grandmother, Charlene Troutman. A gunman had fired more than a dozen shots through their apartment window from outside.
Carmon was released in December after a judge ruled that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and city police failed to pursue other suspects — including one who recanted a confession. The charges were officially dismissed last month.
In June, Carmon told The Associated Press in a phone interview that his name remained tarnished.
“I have to live with that the rest of my life, regardless of what transpired,” he said. “Right now, I’m just working, trying to piece the pieces of my life back together.”
The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Patricia King, corporation counsel for the city of New Haven, said in a statement that she could not comment on the specifics of Carmon’s case, but that “the City is committed to cooperating with all parties and appropriately engaging in the civil litigation process to ensure there are reasonable resolutions on matters where city employees are deemed legally responsible for wrongful convictions or miscarriages of justice.”
Carmen’s attorney argued that evidence showed two other men — purported drug dealers — could have been involved in the shooting. Prosecutors failed to disclose to Carmon’s lawyer that one of those men voluntarily went to the police station and implicated himself and another man in the shooting, the judge said.
Police abandoned their investigation of those men when the firearms expert concluded a handgun Carmon possessed was the murder weapon.
Carmon is working at a grocery distribution warehouse and said he will soon be marrying a woman he was dating before he went to prison. He said he is building a relationship with his 28-year-old son, who was a baby when the shooting happened.
