Maine passes bill to protect provider anonymity
There has been a movement to limit the ability to discover who gives women prescriptions because of a fear that they will be harassed or killed.
It’s important to monitor abortion rights in states where it’s safe and legal, even with so much going on in antiabortion regions of the United States and threats overseas.
With that in mind, I’ll share some perspectives from a conversation I had with Olivia Pennington, director of Advocacy and Community Engagement for Maine Family Planning. We discussed efforts to protect abortion providers in Maine, including a recent bill ensuring prescriber confidentiality to prevent doxing and a shield law safeguarding providers and patients from hostile actions.
“We are working to remove as many barriers as possible, while also continuously fighting off threats from the federal government that are motivated by anti-abortion sentiments that really impact the rest of the full range of sexual and reproductive health care, including birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screening,” Pennington said.
Transportation remains a significant barrier, with in-clinic abortions available only in Bangor, Augusta, and Portland. Medication abortions are provided via telehealth and mail.
“A lot of the folks are coming from rural areas and may have really long commutes to access and in-clinic abortion,” Pennington said.
Maine has shield laws protecting providers, but they don’t do telehealth consultations and prescribing to patients who live in antiabortion states. That’s unlike Massachusetts and New York, which have doctors who have risked their financial well-being and freedom to treat women in places like Texas and Louisiana.
Understandably, Maine OB/GYNs take that approach given the situation of Dr. Margaret Carpenter, a telehealth abortion provider in New York City who faces extradition requests from Louisiana and a civil lawsuit in Texas after sending women abortion pills in the mail.
One of the sensible reforms that happened in Maine, which I think should happen elsewhere, is that the doctor’s name was removed from the prescription label for abortion medications. It prevents any kind of harassment from antiabortion activists or extremists.
“The opposition has been known to dig through people's trash and find anything they can to attack abortion providers,” Pennington said.
Given the history of antiabortion violence, it’s imperative to put into place protections to prevent the same level of intimidation that is designed to discourage reproductive care. Anonymity for people who send abortion pills would help increase the number of doctors willing to help women in situations where they want to end a pregnancy.