During Tuesday’s election Vermonters approved adding an article to the state constitution that would preserve “personal reproductive liberty.” Supporters call it an historic win while opponents say they were outspent and disadvantaged by reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
Vermont’s Proposition 5 asked voters to amend the Constitution by adding Article 22 which reads: “[Personal reproductive liberty] 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.”
It passed 72 to 21 percent.
Lucy Leriche is Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund Vice President of Public Affairs and President of the Reproductive Liberty Amendment Ballot Committee.
“Reproductive decisions are for people to make along with their clinicians and their health care professionals. Politicians have no business in our personal lives. And reproductive freedom means the freedom to determine your own life’s course. And Vermonters in every single town in the state made that declaration very clear.”
Vermont ACLU Advocacy Director Falco Schilling said Vermont voters reflected national trends on reproductive rights.
“It’s great to see that not only here but around the country resoundingly voters when they went to the ballot box supported reproductive rights and fought back against the antidemocratic efforts to restrict those rights. So that is one of the things that we’re taking away from the historic victory both here in Vermont and around the country that when voters actually get a chance to go to the ballot box and make these decisions they are resoundingly standing up for their rights that many are trying to take away from them.”
Leriche says in the aftermath of the amendment’s passage they will focus on new laws.
“This campaign will be ramping down but we’ll probably be looking at some kind of shield laws to think about how we make sure that we are protecting health care providers who are providing care to people who might be traveling from out of state. We haven’t seen a huge influx of patients coming into Vermont seeking abortion care. We have seen some.”
Vermont Right to Life Executive Director Mary Beerworth says they were at a disadvantage, claiming supporters spread misinformation about the amendment.
“Without question Planned Parenthood had floods of money and they ran tv ads that were extremely misleading. Everybody should know that Vermont has legal abortion but since the Dobbs decision there’s been this attempt to sort of misconstrue the situation and feed into some panic that somehow abortion won’t be legal here unless they vote yes for the Reproductive Liberty Amendment.”
The new article does not define “reproductive liberty” and Beerworth anticipates extended debate during upcoming legislative sessions on the actual meaning of the clause.
“One of high level Planned Parenthood officials openly said it’s going to be decades of decisions by lawmakers. So does it mean that minors can access all and everything that relates to reproductive liberty without their parents? One legislator has promised to put in legislation to shut down our nonprofit pregnancy resource centers in Vermont. But I think we’re going to see a lot of social issues. We’re going to see an expansion of what that meaning of reproductive liberty is way beyond just abortion.”
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.
