Letter to the editor: State protects abortion access

As a teenager, I know that there is not a lot of information about reproductive rights and abortion rights in Vermont. I’m a junior in high school, and I have recently been learning a lot of how Vermont laws have made abortion accessible and affordable.

Middlebury College Economics Professor Caitlin Knowles Myers is applying economic statistical modeling techniques to data on abortion access in order to calculate how the number of people who want to get an abortion, but who can’t, has changed since the r … (read more)

Against a national backdrop of ever-tightening restrictions on abortions and gender-affirming care, Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday signed two high-profile “omnibus” bills that seek to expand protections for and access to reproductive care in Vermont.

Just one year ago, Vermont Family Alliance testified against Article 22. The following questions were asked and not answered until H89 was introduced on January 24, 2023.

Could Article 22 give men equal rights to choose?

Reproductive autonomy — the choice to determine when or whether to become pregnant — is a medical decision.

If outspoken proponents of Prop 5/Article 22 are right, it will be the first constitutional amendment that will actually take away Vermonter’s individual rights.

Letters and commentaries attacking Article 22/Prop 5 are usually self-contradictory and disingenuous.

I do not want any “compelling State interest” to make decisions for me regarding my health care.

Why is abortion so controversial?  Opponents and proponents of abortion both tend to obscure the core problem. 

Though I regret the lack of nuance that has permeated the abortion debate for decades, I unequivocally support the right of a woman to obtain a safe and legal abortion, and I stand firmly in the camp of those who would allow a woman to decide, with her he … (read more)

I’ve been a Vermont nurse for 35 years and have worked in three Vermont hospitals.

Ignore the noise and focus on the principle being argued. That is, the amendment simply and plainly gives women personal control of their reproductive rights. 

One of the most important items on our ballots this year is a proposed amendment to the Vermont Constitution that would enshrine the right to personal reproductive liberty in our state’s constitution.

Any constitutional amendment we are asked to vote on should be clear in its meaning and its intent.