AUGUSTA, Maine (LifeSiteNews) — The Maine legislature heard over 600 arguments against a radical abortion bill on Monday, despite moderators shortening the time for pro-lifers to speak.
On May 1, the House Judiciary Committee heard nearly 20 hours of testimony on a proposed bill to allow abortion up until birth. 675 testimonies were opposed to the bill and 65 were in favor.
According to a press release from the office of Republican Rep. Laurel Libby — who founded Speak up for LIFE after the radical bill was introduced — those testifying in favor of the bill were given two minutes to speak before the Democrat committee chairs “dropped the time allotted for opponents to speak against the bill to one minute.”
“Hundreds of Mainers stepped up to represent the stance of the majority of her citizenry in tremendous, record-breaking opposition to this extreme legislation,” Libby said in a statement. “These Maine citizens should have been allowed their full opportunity to speak. To amend the time limit mid-hearing was egregious.”
Due to the shortened testimonies, the 1,500 pro-lifers who gathered to oppose the bill contributed to a total of 19-and-a-half hours rather than the over 30 hours it would have taken if each speaker had been granted the full time to testify.
“Mainers from over 250 towns traveled to Augusta to testify against the bill to allow late-term abortion, expressing a resounding opinion that LD 1619 is too extreme for Maine,” the press release concluded. “The next step in the legislative process for LD 1619 will be a work session in the Judiciary Committee, likely to be scheduled in the next two weeks.”
After hearing comments from the public, Libby addressed the committee herself, standing in solidarity with those who were not allowed to “give their full testimony.”
“Yesterday and today, for the last 18 hours, we’ve seen the heart of Maine show up in this State House and in this committee room,” she said. “We’ve seen the indominable spirit of true Mainers. We’ve seen their resilience and we’ve seen their determination, their pure intention to speak up for life and to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
Here is Republican State Rep. Laurel Libby testifying to the Maine House Judiciary Committee against the bill that would legalize abortions after fetal viability in which she presents comment sheets filled out by pro-lifers the Democrats stopped from being able to testify. pic.twitter.com/DIDOQaFpO2
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 3, 2023
“I am so proud of the over 675 people who signed up to testify in person in this State House yesterday. And while it’s unfortunate that you did not get to hear from all of them and that you did not get to hear all of their incredible stories, I am so proud of them.”
“Over this last night, it has become abundantly clear…that this committee has forgotten the meaning of ‘we the people’ and has adopted a philosophy of the tyranny of the majority,” she concluded. “But you can rest assured that the people who have woken up with LD 1619 will not fall back to sleep.”
LifeSiteNews contacted Libby and Maine Right to Life for additional comment but did not immediately receive a response.
LD 1619 was originally introduced by Democrat lawmakers in January alongside two other pieces of legislation designed to promote abortion. If passed, the bill would allow for abortion up to birth “when it is necessary in the professional judgment” of a licensed physician legally permitted to commit an abortion. It would replace the state’s current law, which prohibits abortion after the baby has reached viability, roughly between 24 and 26 weeks gestation, unless deemed “necessary” to save the mother’s life.
Reporting standards would also be adjusted to eliminate identifying information about a woman who obtains an abortion and only require details about the date, location and method of an abortion as well as the age of the baby when he or she is killed. Additionally, LD 1619 would remove “criminal penalties” for those who commit late-term elective abortions without proper medical licenses.
Other abortion-related proposals currently up for debate in the legislature include LD 776, which would present the question “do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to declare that every person has a natural, inherent and inalienable right to bodily autonomy” on the ballot in November, presenting the possibility for enshrining a “right” to abortion in the state constitution.
Similarly, LD 1343 would further push the abortion agenda on citizens by its design “to occupy and preempt the entire field of legislation concerning the regulation of a person’s decision to terminate a pregnancy and legislation concerning the provision of abortion.”
Other abortion-related bills introduced in January include provisions to legally protect those traveling to Maine from a state with abortion bans, preventing local authorities from protecting the unborn in contrast to state law and forcing insurance companies to cover abortion without requiring out-of-pocket payments to meet deductibles.
Democrat Governor Janet Mills has a history of promoting pro-abortion policies, including the implementation of two laws enacted in 2019 which force certain insurance companies to cover abortions and allow some non-doctors to commit the deadly procedure.
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