Maryland lawmakers pass bill expanding abortion access

Maryland will allow non-doctor trained medical professionals to perform abortions, joining a list of 14 other states that are expanding their abortion laws. The change is part of a bill passed Saturday that overrode a veto from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

The new law will allow nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants to perform abortions. It will also require most insurance providers in the state to cover the entire cost of the abortion.

"They stood up for health care, they stood up for access to abortion care – which we believe is health care, and health care is a human right – so they did what was right for the women in the state of Maryland," Planned Parenthood of Maryland's chief executive and president, Karen Nelson, said about legislators in the state's Democrat-controlled General Assembly and her approval of the bill, according to the New York Times.

Laura Bogley, who heads the legislative effort of the group Maryland Right to Life, called the bill "an example of what happens when you have a partisan monopoly in a state legislature."

Across the country, lawmakers are fighting to expand and restrict  or in some instances completely ban – access to abortion. The effort by lawmakers is a prelude to the Supreme Court's forthcoming decision on a Mississippi law that is widely expected to either weaken or overturn entirely the landmark Roe v. Wade decision a woman's constitutional right to abortion.

Maryland's new law will take effect on July 1.