Updated at 3:05 p.m.
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.
“Today, we reaffirm once again that Vermont stands on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive liberty, and that providers are free to practice without fear,” the Republican governor said in a press release announcing his signatures Wednesday.
When the U.S. Supreme Court last summer struck down Roe v. Wade case precedent, thereby ending the federal right to an abortion, dozens of states immediately outlawed or severely restricted access to the procedure. Meanwhile, numerous state legislatures have also taken aim at transgender rights, passing laws regulating gender-affirming care for patients who are transitioning, particularly minors.
In a patchwork nation of disparate laws regarding reproductive health care, Vermont lawmakers set out to make the state a refuge for these procedures — not just for residents, but out-of-state patients who travel to receive the procedures, as well.
H.89 is the Legislature’s so-called shield law, protecting Vermont health care providers from being forced to cooperate with out-of-state investigators, should they seek to prosecute a patient who traveled to Vermont to obtain care from a state where abortion or gender-affirming care is outlawed.
Lawmakers were clear from the start: Vermont can only shield providers and patients so long as they remain in state lines. But H.89 does offer out-of-state patients some level of protection, by essentially kneecapping any investigations.
The Senate’s companion bill, S.37, offers providers professional protections for providing reproductive care in Vermont, such as barring medical malpractice insurance companies from hiking rates on providers, or preventing providers from having their medical licenses revoked.
The legislation also includes a section taking aim at so-called crisis pregnancy centers, which are nonmedical facilities that advertise themselves for pregnant patients, offering some basic obstetrics — such as pregnancy tests and ultrasounds — but actively seek to dissuade patients from obtaining abortions. Critics have long called these facilities’ advertising strategies misleading, and S.37 makes them subject to Vermont’s existing false and misleading advertising statutes.
Collectively, H.89 and S.37 go a step further than Article 22, an amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing “reproductive liberty” that passed with majority support in every Vermont city and town last fall.
Such laws are among the first in the nation. In the words of David Cohen, a Drexel University law school professor, they represent an advent of the post-Roe “interjurisdictional abortion wars.”
Both bills passed overwhelmingly in the Vermont House and Senate. They were widely supported by prominent Vermont medical organizations and institutions, as well as reproductive care and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups such as Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and OutRight Vermont. Groups such as Vermont Family Alliance, which advocates for stricter regulations on performing gender-affirming care, and Vermont Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, objected to the legislation.
Lucy Leriche, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s vice president of Vermont public affairs, said in a written statement Wednesday that she was grateful for state lawmakers’ support.
“No one should live in fear as they deliver or receive life-saving health care,” Leriche said. “This is a proud day for Vermont.”
While the two bills saw broad support among legislators, there was a last-minute hiccup: When news broke that a federal judge in Texas ruled that Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone, a widely used abortion medication, should be revoked, lawmakers scurried to add in additional, specific protections for abortions carried out by medicine. Medication is the most commonly used method for abortion nationwide and in Vermont.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the advocacy work of Vermont Family Alliance.
Clarification: This story was updated to make clearer that the protections in both bills extend to all reproductive health care providers in the state.
