28-2
Purpose: Proposal 5 would amend the Vermont Constitution to say that “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
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Analysis: There is a concern that the United States Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade, in which case legal decisions about abortion will be left to the states. Those voting YES believe that unrestricted access to an abortion at any time during a pregnancy from conception to birth should be a constitutional right.
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Those voting NO believe that the rights of an unborn child deserve at least some consideration under law, and that the language of this Amendment are too vague to be reliably enforced. For example, an amendment ostensibly designed to enshrine abortion rights doesn’t even include the word “abortion.”
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Senate Journal, Thursday, April 4, 2019. “Thereupon, the pending question, Shall the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution designated as Proposal 5 be amended as recommended by the Committee on Health and Welfare, as amended?, was decided in the affirmative on a roll call pursuant to Rule 77, Yeas 28, Nays 2.” (Read the Journal, p. 541-548)
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Related: Roll Call! House Passes Unrestricted Right to Abortion Up to the Point of Delivery (106-37)
How They Voted
Timothy Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) – YES
Becca Balint (D-Windham) – YES
Philip Baruth (D-Chittenden) – YES
Joseph Benning (R-Caledonia) – YES
Christopher Bray (D-Addison) – YES
Randy Brock (R-Franklin) – YES
Brian Campion (D-Bennington) – YES
Alison Clarkson (D-Windsor) – YES
Brian Collamore (R-Rutland) – NO
Ann Cummings (D-Washington) – YES
Ruth Hardy (D-Addison) – YES
Cheryl Hooker (D-Rutland) – YES
Debbie Ingram (D-Chittendent) – YES
M. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) – YES
Virginia Lyons (D-Chittenden) – YES
Mark MacDonald (D-Orange) – YES
Richard Mazza (D-Chittenden-Grand Isle) – YES
Richard McCormack (D-Windsor) – YES
James McNeil (R-Rutland) – NO
Alice Nitka (D-Windsor District) – YES
Corey Parent (R-Franklin) – YES
Chris Pearson (P-Chittenden) – YES
Andrew Perchlik (D-Washington) – YES
Anthony Pollina (P/D/W-Washington) – YES
John Rodgers (D-Essex-Orleans) – YES
Richard Sears (D-Bennington) – YES
Michael Sirotkin (D-Chittenden) – YES
Robert Starr (D-Essex-Orleans) – YES
Richard Westman (R-Lamoille) – YES
Jeanette White (D-Windham) – YES
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
what a stupid idea….if you want a baby take precaution and if you want to abort do it the first 3 months…..what has happened to our society and it’s old values?
This symbolic of popular abhorrence of Trump, and nothing more.