Maryland Catholics are being urged at church to sign letters asking the governor and lawmakers to support the “Pregnant Women Support Act,” a proposal to fund more services to help women carry their babies to term.
At St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Columbia on Sunday, parishioners signed letters to their local senators and delegates after the pastor, Monsignor Richard Tillman, read a statement noting that family-planning organizations already receive some state support.
The Maryland Catholic Conference hopes to deliver 100,000 letters to lawmakers in coming weeks.
“Empowering women so they can choose adoption or parenting is something we should all work toward,” said the letter to Gov. Martin O?Malley. “Ensuring that pregnant women receive prenatal care has the potential to save tens of millions of dollars in health care costs because it prevents low birth-weight babies and pre-term deliveries.”
The proposal is modeled after a 13-year-old Pennsylvania program called Real Alternatives, said Nancy Paltell, the Respect for Life director at the Catholic Conference. “We have finally found something that is common ground. It gets away from the head-butting over abortion.”
After being contacted by the Catholic Conference, Del. Barbara Robinson, D-Baltimore City, had the bill drafted. “I?m not against abortion and I?m not for abortion,” Robinson said. “I?m for a woman?s right to choose.”
The bill “is focused on removing obstacles” to keeping the baby, Paltell said. The mother “may think that she one choice only” ? abortion ? “but no woman should choose an abortion under financial duress.”
“We could start this program for one year for about $800,000,” Paltell said, perhaps with a demonstration project in Baltimore. Family planning organizations receive about $13 million in state funding, she said, and the state spends about $2.5 million on abortions.
