Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility held a virtual town hall this week to promote passage of a constitutional amendment to protect “reproductive autonomy” in the state. But critics say the measure’s language is too broad and allows abortion through all nine months of gestation.
Proposition 5 would change the Vermont Constitution to add Article 22, which reads: “That an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
Reproductive Liberty Amendment Campaign Manager Sam Donnelly claimed polling shows overwhelming support for the amendment.
“If this passes the vote on November 8th Vermont could be among one of the first states in the nation to explicitly protect reproductive freedom in our Constitution. There are other efforts going on across the country. There’s a proposition in California. There is one in Michigan. There is an effort, although it’s a vote no effort, in Kansas. No sorry Kentucky where they’re trying to amend the Constitution so they can ban abortions. So that is a vote no effort. But what really stands out about our amendment this year in Vermont is that it does go so far as to protect lots of reproductive autonomy rather than only abortion. It covers a whole host of things.”
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Vice president of Public Policy Lucy Leriche noted that the state passed Act 47 in 2019, which protects the right to an abortion.
“Everyone in the Vermont legislature has only a two year term so we are only two years away from a new legislature hostile to reproductive rights coming in and repealing the law, criminalizing the procedure, criminalizing people who receive it or people who perform the procedure. So we know that deeper protection is needed. The Reproductive Liberty Amendment is a proposed constitutional amendment that will protect every Vermonter’s right to make their own reproductive decisions. And these are the things that are specifically included: whether or not to become a parent, use temporary or permanent birth control or seek or access abortion care.”
Vermont Right to Life Policy Analyst Sharon Toborg joined the town hall and said proponents of Proposition 5 are using consistent talking points to push for passage.
“Article 22 does not merely codify Roe v Wade. It does not protect us from federal involvement in the abortion issue because federal involvement would always trump state involvement. We know that it would legalize abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy for any reason. It’s very clear from the language. We know that it puts health care workers at risk because they do not have conscience protection legislation here in Vermont. And the other point is the term ‘personal reproductive autonomy’ in the article has no fixed definition.”
Vermont’s Reproductive Liberty Amendment was passed by two separate legislatures prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Following final legislative passage in February, Republican Governor Phil Scott in July approved placing it on the November ballot.
