Larry Hogan, Who Vetoed Abortion Bill, Claims He ‘Delivered’ on Abortion Access
The GOP nominee for Maryland Senate said it was "insulting" for his opponent Angela Alsobrooks to point out his anti-abortion record during their debate.
Photo: YouTube/MarylandPublicTV AbortionPolitics 2024 Election
When a popular former GOP governor is trying to win a Senate race in a blue state, it’s a little bit of a problem if that candidate vetoed a bill to expand abortion access. So when former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) faced off during their only debate on Thursday night, Hogan tried to rewrite his record on the issue and attempted to reassure voters that electing him won’t restrict their rights.
In April 2022, Hogan vetoed the Abortion Care Access Act, a bill that would have removed a restriction banning nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants from providing medication and procedural abortions. The bill also allocated funding to train these so-called advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to learn how to provide abortions. Currently, 15 states only allow physicians to prescribe medication abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which is a policy that limits access to care.
Maryland was one of several blue states working to pass APC laws in 2022 as they awaited the Dobbs decision and anticipated an influx of abortion seekers from states with bans. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports training APCs: “Increasing the availability of trained clinicians who can provide abortion care will allow more patients to access quality health care in their own communities and enable patients to receive care more quickly.”
Yet, in his veto statement, Hogan said that the bill risked “lowering the high standard of reproductive health care services received by women in Maryland.” The legislature overrode his veto, but that May, Hogan withheld the $3.5 million in funding from the state budget, effectively delaying the program for an entire year.