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Category Archive: News

  1. Reflecting on the Maine 131st legislative session

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    Now that the uncharacteristically long Maine legislative session has wrapped up, it feels like a great time to celebrate the wins we’ve had with bills that help fulfill our state’s motto: “The Way Life Should Be.” You’re probably already familiar with LD 1619, an important bill for abortion access in the state that received a lot of attention, but you may not know about some of the other exciting bills that were signed into law over the last months! Along with other proactive abortion bills, we saw many pro-trans bills become law in Maine, providing a sharp contrast with anti-trans laws that have been implemented across the country. Read below to see some of these new laws! Bills with an asterisk (*) are the first of their kind in the United States.

    LD 1343: Sponsored by Bangor’s own Rep. Supica, this bill makes it so that no town or municipality can pass local ordinances to restrict abortion access.
    LD 616: This law strengthens protections for healthcare providers so that they may offer care to people traveling to Maine for abortion care safely, without threats to their ability to practice medicine.
    LD 935: This bill requires private health insurance to cover abortion care without cost-sharing, or before you’ve hit your deductible.
    *LD 956: This bill improves LGBTQ+ data collection in healthcare settings, which has been shown to improve health outcomes for LGBTQ+ people.
    *LD 942: This bill requires nonbinary inclusion on state forms and databases.
    *LD 1507: This bill will require the state to offer reissued marriage certificates following gender marker change and gender self-affirmation on death certificates.
    LD 1040: This bill makes MaineCare coverage of gender-affirming care state law (rather than just an executive order).
    LD 489: This bill updates how the Maine Human Rights Act protects trans youth in schools.
    *LD 535: This bill improves gender-affirming care access for trans youth by allowing access to gender-affirming care without parental consent or notification for 16- and 17-year-olds. This is similar to Maine laws regarding abortion access or contraception for minors.
    LD 1683: This bill provides a path for civil recovery (as opposed to working through the often retraumatizing criminal justice system) for victims of “stealthing,” or the act of nonconsensually tampering with or removing a condom during sex. This bill also includes considerations around sexual assault when evaluating parental rights.

    These important new laws would not be possible without the work of the legislators sponsoring and cosponsoring the bills, the organizations that advocated for them, or the individuals that provided testimony.

    There are other new laws to be celebrated as well, along with pieces of legislation that did not become law to mourn. LD 199 sought to improve the health and wellbeing of all Mainers by removing restrictions for access to MaineCare for immigrants, and did not pass in the legislature. LD 2004 was a bill that would have amended the unjust 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act and provide members of the Wabanaki Nations with the protections that all other federally recognized tribes are provided. While LD 2004 did pass in the House and Senate with a strong bipartisan majority, it was vetoed by the Governor and the veto was not overridden when brought back to the House and Senate. Both new Mainers and members of Wabanaki Nations deserve better.

  2. Your Healthcare is not a Bureaucracy

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    By Julian Ober (she/her), University of Maine Women, Gender and Sexuality student and Mabel Wadsworth Center intern

    Oftentimes when discussing abortions, we get caught up in the reasons why a person would have an abortion rather than the inherent autonomy they always hold regardless of if they are pregnant. According to the PEW Research Center, 61% of Americans support abortion access and this number has been trending upwards since 2015. Anti-abortion politicians, who represent a minority of the population that supports restrictive and archaic policies, have spun the narrative that your reproductive health care choices must be justifiable to the larger public opinion. This has led to exceptions clauses that we have seen amended into many bills across the country. What isn’t always clear is that these exceptions are almost completely inaccessible.

    Jessica Valenti wrote in a recent article, “Since Roe was overturned, horror story after horror story has come out of states with ‘exceptions’ to their bans. A woman in Texas going septic, a Missouri woman with a doomed and deadly pregnancy, a 10 year-old rape victim in Ohio. All lived in states where their circumstances should have qualified them for abortions, yet none were able to access care.” When referencing the 10 year old from Ohio I was reminded of another Valenti article written almost exactly a year ago detailing the same circumstances, writing “Republican pundits and politicians cast aspersions on the story of a 10-year old girl in Ohio who had been raped and impregnated. It reminded me that to conservatives, there is no story good enough, no woman or girl [person] credible enough.” In the same vein as exceptions, the people who try to use the exceptions are not believed or taken seriously, and due to the time limits imposed by these same lawmakers they run out of time in their home states to access the healthcare they need.

    Everyone should have access to the reproductive healthcare they want, and these bans often come from a place of misogyny and distrust of women. The narrative is clear: forced birth extremists believe women who have sex for their own pleasure deserve the “consequences of their actions,” while those who were assaulted or have health concerns get access in theory, but rarely in practice. This is of course not accounting for the trans folks who need this care as well that are erased and ignored in these policies. According to the Lozier Institute, less than 5% of abortions could theoretically fall under the exceptions clauses meaning 95% of people seeking care would be forced out of their state for basic healthcare, forced to continue their pregnancy, or forced to risk criminalization by seeking self-managed abortion. While this survey can be skewed because of its voluntary nature, the results are clear, most people have abortions for many reasons outside of the very rigid exception clauses. Even the language used in abortion policy consists of “Mother, and Women/Girls” when everyone is entitled to reproductive care and anyone may need it. When people are making critical decisions about their healthcare they should not have to justify their decision to the general public. What other healthcare practice would require that? None! Because your healthcare is not a bureaucracy.

    In Maine, LD1619, which eliminates gestational limits among other improvements to abortion access, just went through the State House and passed by a slim margin. The following exception to abortion access past “viability” was proposed by Rep. Collings of Portland to be amended into the bill before it passed: “when the fetus is diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly; or, if the mother is a minor, when the minor’s pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.” Thankfully this failed, but once again we are seeing the exceptions falling only to those who were sexually assaulted or ill within specific definitions that could never account for every situation. Pregnant people are always people before anything else, and their autonomy doesn’t disappear at a certain stage of gestation. This is a continuation of many pushes across the country to strip people of their autonomy.

    If we work under the guise that reproductive healthcare decisions must be justified or exempted, we are effectively ruling out this care entirely. The general public is not entitled to your reasoning for seeking abortion care, so legislation requiring you to publicly “defend” your choice is unjust.

  3. Fighting Anti-Trans Legislation

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    By Sophie Reed (she/they), University of Maine Women, Gender and Sexuality student and Mabel Wadsworth Center intern

    In 2023, the United States saw a surge of anti-transgender legislation denying transgender people equal access to public schools, abortion care, and gender-affirming health care. Many bills that have already been introduced this year target transgender youth’s access to healthcare, bathroom and locker room access, and sports participation. In 2023, the legislative session began with 278 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community. Many of these bills are targeted specifically at the transgender community, including proposed legislation that would increase legal protections for transgender people and legislation that would restrict trans rights and liberties. This has caused an uproar from many organizations who are pushing for the passing of bills that would protect transgender students in schools and transgender youth from being targeted. This is an all-time record for bills focusing on the LGBTQ+ community in this country. 

    A ban on gender-affirming care has been proposed in several states, and this ban would include such treatments as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender confirmation surgeries. Medical experts have warned that a ban on such treatments would be detrimental to the physical and mental health of transgender patients. In addition, a new ruling in California has been proposed that would shield families from having to pay for medical treatments or medications related to gender transition through their state’s Medicaid program. Other states are considering similar measures.    

    It has been a difficult year for trans youth, trans adults, and their loved ones as they try to fight these bills. Some states, such as Texas and Florida, have even gone so far as to propose legislation that aims to prohibit medical providers from administering gender-affirming care. Another example is the proposed bathroom bill in Texas that would have banned transgender people from using public restrooms. Luckily, this proposal was blocked by the Texas Supreme Court in early 2023. This was a huge victory for transgender students and advocates of transgender rights. However, this was only the beginning of a long fight for the rights of transgender people. In the past year, several Republican-led state legislatures have introduced anti-transgender bills to restrict transgender students’ participation in school activities. Tennessee and Alabama have even issued orders restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare for minors. On top of this, many states have made legislative activity against transgender athletes playing in school sports teams. U.S history has seen legislation and executive orders issued by athletic associations to restrict student’s access to certain sports based on their gender identity or expression. 

    The transgender community has made tremendous strides in improving the life and experiences of transgender people. Trans adults and kids have been able to live with their true gender identity and experience far less stigma than in previous years. Unfortunately, some conservative legislators still make reprehensible political decisions that refuse health care to trans people or refuse to recognize them as their true gender identity. Consequently, some Republican state legislatures have convened meetings and passed bills that are aimed at restricting the rights of trans people in their respective states.   

    According to the Williams Institute and Reuters in 2023, there are roughly 1.6  million transgender individuals in the United States, and their health care needs are unique and varied. Trans people face unique barriers when it comes to disclosing their gender identity while accessing health services. If they do not feel safe or comfortable disclosing this information, they may be unable to access appropriate medical care. This can lead to poor health outcomes for trans people.  It is also important for trans people and those who care about them alike to vote their state legislators out of office if they are actively attempting to strip them of these basic rights. 

    In 2023, it is essential that we continue to fight against legislation which stigmatizes transgender identity and harms trans youth. This includes state-level gender-affirming care bans, as well as bills that reflect the same underlying prejudices and victimization narrative as bathroom bills. Such laws often reflect paternalistic arguments about protecting health, but in reality, only reinforce the gender binary and further stigmatize and vilify trans people. The social attitudes towards trans individuals must change if we are to make progress in the fight for their rights. We must reject the idea that there is anything wrong with a person’s gender identity, and recognize that any attempt to regulate it through legislation is a violation of civil liberties.

    Follow our friends at Maine Trans Net to stay up-to-date on legislation in Maine.

     

  4. 2022 in Review

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  5. Join our Board of Directors!

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    Mabel Wadsworth Center (“Mabel’s”), an independent, feminist healthcare provider based in Bangor, Maine, is seeking applications for the Board of Directors.  During this critical time for abortion access and transgender healthcare, it is important that we have a dynamic group of folks to help ensure Mabel’s vitality as we serve our community. The Board of Directors works to strengthen and promote our mission and values, ensure financial stability and growth, and strategically plan for Mabel’s future. Ours is a three pronged mission “to provide healthcare using a feminist model focused on sexual and reproductive health through education, advocacy, and clinical services.”  You can learn more about us at mabelwadsworth.org.

    If you are interested in joining Mabel’s board, please respond to the four questions below. We are committed to inclusion and accessibility for all. We offer many ways to answer the application questions. Written, video, and audio answers may be emailed to info@mabelwadsworth.org. If you would like to speak with a board member, that can also be arranged by emailing the address above. Please remember to include your name, town you live in, telephone number, and preferred method of contact.  A general description of board responsibilities can be found HERE. 

    Mabel’s is wholly engaged in the ongoing fight for reproductive justice, including dismantling white supremacy and oppressive systems within the nonprofit and health care industries where we operate. We welcome applicants of all genders & backgrounds, especially first-time Board of Directors members. If you have experience in anti-oppressive work, especially reproductive justice and abortion advocacy, anti-racism, and transgender inclusion, we hope you will share that with us. 

    Thank you for your consideration!

    1. Please describe your interest in serving Mabel’s. Discuss your understanding of our programs, values, and mission, particularly as they relate to anti-oppressive work.
    2. There are a variety of ways to support Mabel’s work. What specifically interests you about board service? 
    3. What relevant experiences or skills might you bring to this role? What relationships (with organizations, communities, or key stakeholders) would you bring to this position? 
    4. What is important for us to know about you as we consider your application? We’d love to hear about any characteristics, identities, affinities, or lived experiences you would like to share with us that inform your understanding of the world or might add to our shared approach to leadership.