ANNAPOLIS, MD – In a significant move to enhance abortion care and reproductive health services across the state, Governor Wes Moore today unveiled a comprehensive funding initiative totaling $15.6 million. This initiative marks a pivotal step in the Moore-Miller Administration’s commitment to safeguarding reproductive rights and healthcare access for all Marylanders.
The administration’s financial strategy includes a $5 million allocation in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget to boost Medicaid provider reimbursement rates for abortion care and reproductive health services. Furthermore, the Maryland Department of Health has extended a $10.6 million grant to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, earmarked for administering the Maryland Abortion Care Clinical Training Program.
Governor Moore emphasized the importance of this initiative, stating, “Access to reproductive health care is a fundamental right. Today, we take another big step forward to protect the health, well-being, and rights of Marylanders – and we will keep working together to ensure that Maryland remains a safe haven for reproductive care.”
This financial support seeks to bolster the Maryland Medicaid Family Planning and Reproductive Health Program through grants to family planning service providers, including abortion clinics across the state. The aim is to promote patient access to best practices and strengthen clinic infrastructures, from information technology enhancements to staffing augmentation. The Department of Health has conducted a comprehensive review to ensure Medicaid abortion rates in Maryland are competitive nationally.
Dr. Laura Herrera Scott, Maryland Department of Health Secretary, highlighted the importance of the funding, “This funding represents a major step toward fortifying reproductive rights with abortion training and education. These comprehensive training programs, along with Governor Moore’s additional funding to support Medicaid providers, will help keep abortion care in Maryland safe and accessible for generations.”
The University of Maryland, Baltimore, plans to use the grant to expand abortion care training for healthcare professionals, aiming to increase racial and ethnic diversity among those educated in abortion care and identify clinical sites for training. Funds will support collaborations with organizations like Planned Parenthood of Maryland and the National Abortion Federation to develop a statewide training system.
Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Jessica Lee, MD, and co-principal investigator on the training program explained, “Our training will target a major public health problem of abortion care training and access in our state. We will specifically address training clinicians in underserved and rural areas in Maryland to help reverse health inequities and provide reproductive health care services to those in need.”
This initiative comes in response to the critical need for increased abortion care access, especially in areas where over 60% of Maryland counties lacked community-based clinics offering such services in 2020. The goal is to ensure equitable care across the state, particularly for communities facing significant access challenges and discrimination within the healthcare system.
Leaders from Planned Parenthood of Maryland and the National Abortion Federation expressed their support and enthusiasm for the initiative. Planned Parenthood of Maryland President and CEO Karen J. Nelson and National Abortion Federation Chief Program Officer Melissa Fowler both underscored the importance of this investment in securing healthcare equity and maintaining Maryland as a sanctuary for abortion access in the post-Roe landscape.
Funded by the Abortion Care Access Act of 2022, the Maryland Abortion Care Clinical Training Program represents a landmark effort to ensure high-quality, safe abortion care in Maryland, setting a precedent for other states to follow in supporting the clinical training of abortion care providers and their teams.
