Report Ranks Maryland High
Among States for Conducting Abortions

By NICOLE MORGAN

Capital News Service

WASHINGTON - Maryland is one of the best states in the nation when it comes to protecting abortion rights, and activists on both sides of the debate said Thursday that pro-choice groups likely have the votes to keep it that way.

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League gave Maryland a grade of A- for abortion access in 1999, in a nationwide report card released Thursday.

It said Maryland was the ninth-best state in the nation for abortion rights -- down slightly from the 1998 ranking of eighth best, but still well above the national grade of D+.

"We certainly applaud Maryland's approach to reproductive rights," said Elizabeth Arndorfer, a senior staff attorney for the abortion-rights group. She said Maryland has "led the way" for other states.

But abortion opponents see Maryland's ranking is evidence of moral decay, not progress.

"Bringing [abortion] from the back alley to the front street didn't really help at all. It's still as dirty as it ever was," said Barbara King. She is the director of the Auburne Center Project, an abortion hotline and counseling service run by Pregnancy Center Inc.

But King agreed with pro-choice groups that, unless the political situation changes dramatically in Maryland, there is little chance of the state changing direction on abortion.

"Our biggest problem is the [upcoming] election," she said. "If we could elect legislators that had stronger values, we'd probably have better laws."

For the past five years, the General Assembly has defeated a bill that would prohibit so-called "partial-birth abortions" performed after 16 weeks of pregnancy.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Larry Haines, R-Carroll, is "better than nothing," but is not good enough, King said.

NARAL officials called Haines' bill the biggest threat to Maryland's liberal abortion laws.

"It would make abortion illegal after the 16th week of pregnancy," said Nancy C. Lineman, political director of the Maryland affiliate for NARAL.Lineman said Haines' bill would "chip away at a woman's right to choose."

But she was confident that the state's pro-choice lawmakers "have enough votes to overturn" virtually any pro-life legislation.

In 1998, Maryland was the first state to require that insurance coverage for prescriptions also cover FDA-approved prescription contraceptives, Arndorfer said. And, in 1989, Maryland was the first state to pass a law protecting access to abortion clinics and prohibiting clinic violence.

While Maryland requires that abortions be performed by licensed physicians, most of the other restrictions come with exceptions.

The state prohibits an abortion if fetus could live outside the mother's womb, for example, but that determination is left up to the physician. Doctors are also allowed to perform abortions if they determine that the birth would put the mother's physical or mental health at risk.

Maryland prohibits abortions for unwed minors in most cases, but the procedure can be performed if the physician determines that "the minor is mature and capable of giving informed consent to an abortion."

Maryland limits state-funded abortions to women whose physical or mental health is at risk, or who are victims of rape or incest.

There are more than 150 abortion clinics in the state, but it is virtually impossible to track the number of procedures because Maryland does not require that clinics report them, said Clement Chan, data analyst supervisor at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He said that only 15 clinics reported to the state in 1998, claiming 10,018 procedures in that year.

Maryland's Lax Marriage Law Lures
Kissing Cousins Looking to Go Legit
By NORA KOCH
Capital News Service
ANNAPOLIS ---- Did you hear the one about the West Virginia cousins who married each other? Turns out that jokes like that may be on Maryland.
Maryland is one of 19 states that allow first cousins to marry, attracting kissing cousins from out of state who come here to register their unions, according to circuit clerks in Western Maryland.
"A lot of people come here because the marriage laws are easier," said Allegany County Circuit Clerk Raymond Walker, who is in his seventh term as court clerk.
Neither he nor Garrett County Circuit Clerk David K. Martin said there is line of cousins around the courthouse -- but it's not unheard of either, they said.
"We maybe do cousins one time a year," in Garrett County, where 65.9 percent of marriage licenses go to out-of-state couples, said Martin. When cousins do marry in Garrett County, they are often from the area's small Amish or Mennonite communities, Martin said.
Walker said Allegany County regularly issues three or four marriage licenses a year to cousins, who are almost always out-of-staters who researched state laws and came here to get hitched.
About 40 percent of all marriage licenses issued in Maryland's three westernmost counties go to non-residents, according to 1997 data from the state.
Most of those are to residents of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Walker said.
Neither Maryland nor Virginia prohibits union between cousins. By contrast, West Virginia law specifically says that a man cannot marry his mother, sister, daughter, first cousin or double cousin, and vice versa for women.
Pennsylvania law says simply that people related by blood cannot marry, while Delaware allows second cousins to marry.
Although cousins are allowed to marry in Maryland, state law does not allow marriage between siblings, parents and children or grandparents and children. Some family ties that are not blood-related, such as stepchildren and stepparents and parents- or children-in-law are also prohibited.
The penalty for, say, marrying your mom, is a $1,500 fine or "permanent banishment from this state," according to Maryland law.
Before issuing a license, Martin said he has to ask couples if they are related in any way. Those who are, he said, are usually a former husband and
wife who decided to remarry. But not all applicants are as understanding when Martin asks if they are related.
"Some say, 'Do you think we're perverted?' or snicker," Martin said. "But it's just a question that we have to ask."
Walker said people sometimes get confused when he asks the question.
"We're not asking if you've had relations, we're asking if you're related by blood," he said with a laugh.
Walker said he has seen instances where half-brothers and sisters have fallen in love and married without knowing they were related.
"That's very rare and really creates problems. We've had that where they found out just in time, some too late," he said.
"I have known of a number of couples that are first cousins in the area and they have absolutely beautiful children," Walker said. "But one never knows what genetics are going to do."
Another factor behind the brisk business in Maryland marriage licenses may be the fact that the rules have traditionally been slightly less stringent here than in many neighboring states. Maryland does not require a blood test and only requires a two-day wait before a license can be issued.
Pennsylvania has a three-day waiting period between the time a couple applies for a license and the time they can pick it up, while Delaware has a one-day wait for residents and four-day wait for non-residents.
Virginia has no waiting period, nor does West Virginia. But until June, when the law changed, West Virginia required both a three-day wait and a blood test, neither of which is needed now.
Since the law changed, Walker said Maryland has seen less West Virginians making a wedding run for the border.
About a quarter of marriages performed in Jefferson County, W.Va., are to out-of-state residents, according to an employee in the county clerk's office there.
The employee, who declined to give her name, said many couples come to the area to get married because of the romantic scenery at nearby Harper's Ferry and historic Shepherdstown.
She said she has only seen one incident in her two years in the Jefferson County clerk's office where a pair of first cousins applied for a marriage license.
They were, of course, denied.