Dear Senator Mautz,
Today I write you simply as a woman who is one of your constituents. I recently read an email from you regarding your opposition to SB 0798 – Right to Reproductive Freedom.
Please give me a minute of your time by reading my letter. I am 75 years old and remember the pre-Roe days. A friend of mine was raped and went to New York City for an illegal abortion. She nearly bled to death in her dorm room when she came back to school.
Another friend was well off. She flew to London for an abortion.
I am sure that you could afford such a trip for a family female with an unwanted pregnancy. So you have no worries about banning the procedure here in the USA.
I personally take offense when men make such decisions so broadly for all women. We need access to safe abortions here in the USA with no limits as to why.
Thank you, Senator Mautz, for reading this.
Sarah Sayre
Claiborne
Tracey Johns says
Thank you Sarah, and I agree.
If women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies and her life isn’t as important as the one she hosts, then will anti-abortionists soon required forced organ donations to save a life? This was a critical discussion among the Supreme Court in Roe V. Wade.
For example – let’s say I need a kidney, and you are a match – you body is in essence the host to that kidney that I need, and I’m going to die if you don’t give it to me.
Should it be required you give me your kidney so I can live? Should you go to jail if you don’t? I mean, my life will end without it and you’re a match. Therefore, should it be required a women use her body to host an embryo? It’s a slippery slope.
Back in 1947-ish, my then pregnant teenage mother was taken to a basement with a table and knives in Washington D.C. for an illegal abortion and it scared the crap out of her. She later had my sister at the Frances Crittenton (sp?) home for unwed mothers instead. However, mom was a strong pro-choice supporter because of that scary basement scene, and remained passionate about making sure no woman (without means) was faced with illegal abortion as her only choice. Mom would be 94 this year.
Suzanne Todd says
Thank you, Sarah. I’m anxious to hear about the reply from Senator Mautz.
Ellen Garrion says
Thank you for your letter to Senator Mautz. I too lived similar experiences in the pre-Roe era. These are decisions that women should be free to make considering their own convictions and circumstances without government interference or restriction. It’s interesting that the same people who reject government regulation on many issues and freedoms are very willing to enforce government regulation on women and the professionals who care for them.
Eva M. Smorzaniuk MD says
I, too, am old enough to remember the dark ages of bleeding, sepsis, and death after illegal abortions. I dont think this is what most people in MD want for their wives, sisters, and daughters. Sadly, we are still living in a time and place where unwanted pregnancies continue to be a woman’s health problem, where womens health takes a subordinate position to the health of men, and where pompous male legislators think it is their right to impose their belief set upon women. Its discouraging and angering to see this giant step backward.
Tina Jones says
Thank you Sarah for your letter to Senator Mautz. I agree with you and would suggest that our legislators leave medical decisions to those qualified to make those decisions – physicians and their patients.
Eva M. Smorzaniuk MD says
Amen.
susan delean-botkin says
This is much more than just the “abortion” issue. This is about a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. This is about decisions between a woman and her health care provider – protected rights of privacy in all other health care decisions This is about the government’s responsibility to support, protect and defend all of the citizens equally.
As a health care provider, I care for the whole person, mentally, physically, spiritually, and our biggest problems are when others intervene for their own political aims rather than the best interest of the person.
Ellen Walsh says
Thank you Sarah,
I agree with you and the women who have replied here. No one should legislate on my or anyone else’ body. Didn’t we pass the 13th Amendment to the U.S.Constitution outlawing slavery?
What gives men the right to impinge on women’s bodies? Men would be nonexistent without their mothers. Where are the men who are responsible for these pregnancies?
I look forward to learning Johnny Mautz reasoning on this topic. Our foremothers did not fight for Suffrage to only loose their bodily autonomy. We still have to fight for our equal rights.
Vincent De Sanctis says
Senator Mautz you should thank individuals such as Sarah Sayre for reminding people of what pre-Roe was like for unexpected pregnancies. As an 81 year old male I recall how these situations weighed heavily on young women and their families. Options were very limited. I can remember one situation where the young woman was sent away for a period of time to an unnamed facility out of state. She was fortunate that there were no complications. The one constant in these experiences men were not making the decisions.
Anne Cerutti says
Dear Senator Mautz
I whole heartedly support your opposition to SB0798
Abortion still results in women almost bleeding to death I am almost of the same age as Sarah. There is a whole different set of moral standards today as compared to then. No one is shunned or made to stay away from
School. We also did not have the view into the womb with ultrasound techniques to show pregnancy was not a clump of cells. Additionally abortion harms the mental
Health of many women who undergo the procedure causing them to have difficulty in relationships and even leading to drug abuse which is far more easily fallen into than 85 years ago. Thank you for your stand
Steve Shimko says
According to the CDC, the death rate from legal induced abortions was 0.43 deaths per 100,000 abortions, for the period 2013-2019. The death rate from childbirth is approximately 100 times that – 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births.
So do you really care about the health of the woman? Or this just about forcing your beliefs on someone else?
Laura Bogley, JD says
I write to thank Senator Johnny Mautz for his strong advocacy for women’s health and for parental rights to make medical decisions for their children. Senator Mautz continues to be a trusted voice of reason in a state legislature that is increasingly out of touch with the people of the Eastern Shore.
The Maryland General Assembly’s proposed “Reproductive Freedom” amendment to the Maryland Constitution is bound to be the subject of divisive political debate over the next year and a half. Following its legislative enactment, voters will be asked to approve the amendment through a November 2024 general election ballot question. But what is “Reproductive Freedom” and who will this amendment really serve?
While the term “reproductive freedom” is not defined in Maryland law, the bill sponsors have stated that this amendment would create new rights including but broader than an unlimited abortion right. These new rights may include the fundamental right to taxpayer funded gender reassignment, puberty blockers, chemical castration and surgical mutilation of genitalia – even among minor children without parental consent.
As a parent, I greatly respect Senator Mautz for his efforts to ensure that the state recognizes the natural and legal right of parents to direct their children’s medical care. Parental involvement consistently provides better health outcomes for youth. The lack of parental notification and consent puts young people at greater risk of misdiagnosis and being subjected to unnecessary procedures that may impair their long term physical and psychological health.
The state of Maryland has some of the most liberal and extreme policies on abortion compared to other states and most of the world. Women may and do legally obtain abortions for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy under the Maryland Freedom of Choice Act of 1991. Minor girls as young as 16, may obtain abortions without their parents’ notice or consent. Elective abortions are now fully funded, either through private insurance or state Medicaid.
But in a sad and ironic twist, the “Reproductive Freedom” amendment actually will limit women’s reproductive choices by establishing a taxpayer-funded monopoly by the abortion industry over women’s reproductive health. When the state entrusts women’s health to organizations like Planned Parenthood that are financially invested in unplanned pregnancy, it is no wonder that the state has failed to prevent unplanned pregnancy, ensure access to quality prenatal care or establish affordable adoption programs.
Just as Roe v. Wade did before it, this amendment would shield abortionists from liability at the expense of women’s health and safety. It would take the power to regulate abortion away from our elected representatives, remove all existing safeguards for women, and force health providers and taxpayers to promote and fund abortion in violation of their rights of conscience or religious freedom.
A Constitutional right to abortion would prohibit any legislation proposing to guarantee women a right to give informed consent before abortion procedures, to protect women and girls from abortion coercion at the hands of abusive partners or sex traffickers, or to hold reckless abortionists accountable for the injury or death of their patients.
The multi-billion dollar abortion industry has proven that it is only concerned that abortion remain legal and lucrative. But the state of Maryland has a duty to ensure that abortion is SAFE and must put patients before politics by enacting reasonable regulations on abortion providers and dangerous abortion drug manufacturers.
I oppose the radical “Reproductive Freedom” amendment and am grateful to Senator Mautz for putting women’s health and safety first.
Finally, 1 in 4 women have had an abortion. Nearly 3 in 4 women say they felt pressured into an abortion. But there is hope and healing after abortion. For free and confidential support call 888.456.HOPE
Laura Bogley, JD