On Election Day this November, a question related to accessing abortion and other reproductive health care decisions will be on ballots across Vermont.
Under Article 22, voters will be asked whether the Vermont Constitution should be amended to include reproductive liberty. That would mean future state lawmakers couldn’t pass laws that restrict reproductive rights, advocates have said.
The public vote is the final step in a multi-year constitutional amendment process. However, the recent rollback of Roe v. Wade by conservatives controlling the U.S. Supreme Court has some already calling for even more protections.
"Just being pro-choice is simply not enough," Democrat Brenda Siegel said earlier this month, calling herself a reproductive rights champion and pushing for a package of policies around the issue.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
Siegel, who secured her party’s nomination for governor and who has also picked up the support of Progressives, is doing more than just voicing support for Article 22, the constitutional amendment Vermonters will vote on in November that would enshrine reproductive liberty in the state constitution.
Siegel is also saying if she is elected governor, she would push to make Vermont a safe haven for patients traveling here from out of state to seek an abortion — including by shielding them and care providers from investigators in places where the procedures are now illegal.
"We will not back down and we will push back at all costs," Siegel said of policies coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court, including possible future threats to same-sex marriage rights. "This is Vermont’s moment to lead."
Siegel’s opponent in November, incumbent pro-choice Republican Phil Scott, has said he was deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v Wade. Scott has vowed to defend and preserve the right to an abortion in Vermont.
Earlier this summer, Gov. Scott formally notified Vermonters that the constitutional amendment question would appear on ballots this fall. In that notification, the governor voiced his strong support for women to have the right to make their own choices about their bodies and futures.
Scott promised Tuesday he would consider any additional measures lawmakers bring him, but for now, he said he thinks Article 22 would be a strong statement.
“I look forward, if I’m elected this fall, to work with the Legislature on whatever they come up with,” the governor said in response to a question from NECN & NBC10 Boston about whether additional protective measures are needed. “I don’t know how much further you can go than Article 22, to be honest with you. Name me another state that has it in their Constitution, if that comes to be.”
As for Article 22, opponents have blasted it as vague and permissive of late-term abortions. They have also raised logistical questions, such as about what it would mean for health care workers who object to taking part in certain procedures.
“An unborn child would be treated as less than the 215 plants and animals that have protection — legal protection — in the state of Vermont,” lamented Mary Hahn Beerworth of the Vermont Right to Life Committee in a report from NECN & NBC10 Boston on June 24, the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
However, supporters insist the language of Article 22 reflects Supreme Court precedent and covers other key issues, like contraception. Those supporters have argued it is vital to protect current state rights for the future, and have said most Americans support individuals’ right to determining their own reproductive futures.
Advocates in favor of Article 22 have emphasized it would not change how reproductive health care is currently delivered in Vermont. Rather, it would protect what has become familiar for future generations, advocates have said.
Observers expect the debate over Article 22 — which was previously known as Proposal 5, Proposition 5, or Prop 5 during the legislative lead-up to the statewide vote — to heat up after Labor Day.
