Martin O'Malley's Views on Women's Rights Are Pretty Amazing — Women's Advocates Think So, Too

@GovernorOMalley’s in, another 2016 candidate for repro freedom! It’s on us: make sure all the candidates #OwnIt.
— NARAL (@NARAL) May 30, 2015

This may come to a surprise to some, considering his Catholic faith and his noted “Catholic values,” but Martin O’Malley is a full supporter of both abortion rights and increased access to contraception. O’Malley has received a “100 percent” rating from NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, who once praised him for chewing out former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on state-mandated ultrasounds. “Nothing says jobs like transvaginal probes,” O’Malley said in 2012, throwing some very public shade at McDonnell.

O’Malley’s high marks from NARAL are proven by his track record. In 2002, while he was serving as mayor of Baltimore, aides confirmed that O’Malley supports legal abortion and fair access without interference from the government until the point of viability. He also supports late-term abortion when the life of the mother is at risk, or when the fetus has a severe abnormality. And according to NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, O’Malley has not infringed on abortion rights by signing any new abortion restrictions during his tenure as governor.

When it comes to birth control, O’Malley has increased access to contraception and pregnancy counseling, particularly among low-income women. In 2012, O’Malley signed the Family Planning Works Act, which greatly expanded reproductive-health access by providing low-income women with free pregnancy counseling and Medicaid-funded contraception, STI testing and cancer screenings. According to RH Reality Check, the act would provide these subsidized medical services to an additional 33,000 women in the state.

O’Malley has also promoted increased support for new mothers (and fathers) by signing the Maryland Parental Leave Act in 2014. The law expands parental leave for working parents, requiring Maryland small businesses to provide at least six weeks of unpaid leave for the birth of an employee’s child. Prior to the law, small businesses were exempted from providing unpaid family leave.

read: http://plannedparenthoodaction.org/elections-politics/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-action-fund-welcomes-martin-omalley-presidential-field/


O’Malley wrote in a February op-ed published in POLITICO:

Unfortunately, Republicans’ aversion to compromise means that many of the common sense economic policies that would most effectively help middle class families make ends meet, like paid family leave and ensuring equal pay for equal work, are stuck in the mud—just like Americans’ wages.

He added that expanding mandated paid overtime would overwhelmingly benefit women. “Raising the overtime threshold would ensure that millions of Americans, especially women and younger workers, receive the compensation they’re owed for putting in extra hours at work instead of spending it with their families,” O’Malley wrote.

The truth is this: A strong middle class is the source of sustained economic growth and generational prosperity. Raising the overtime threshold would ensure that millions of Americans, especially women and younger workers, receive the compensation they’re owed for putting in extra hours at work instead of spending it with their families. It would create new jobs, as employers who are reluctant to pay overtime hire new workers instead. And it would represent a step forward for the millions of hardworking families whose paychecks no longer stretch far enough to adequately save for retirement, pay for their children’s educations or start their own businesses.

read: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/overtime-pay-115540.html#.VWoGdpNViko


O’Malley has described his view on abortion as “pro choice”. Aides have said he supported a 1992 Maryland referendum which stated that abortions should be legal, without government restriction, until the time in pregnancy when a fetus can survive outside the womb.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/martin-omalley-believe-candidate-stands-11-issues/
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Governor Martin O’Malley (D) accused the Catholic leadership of “hyperventilating” over the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to cover reproductive health benefits without additional co-pay. Catholic organizations argue that the rule violates their religious liberties and are planning to sue the federal government, even though the measure includes a narrow religious exemption that mirrors existing conscience protections in New York and California.

During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, O’Malley, himself a Catholic, claimed that the Church is politicizing the health care debate and moving the goal posts from abortion to contraception in their war against the administration:

O’MALLEY: I am Catholic. And I think, Candy, there’s been a little bit too much hyperventilating over this issue…this is not about abortion. It’s about covering contraception as part of the health care coverage, mandatory, basic coverage. 28 states already require this. And in Europe —

CANDY CROWLEY (HOST): But you’re not thinking about the state, the federal government, telling a religion what it must cover in a health care policy.

O’MALLEY: Well, there is an exemption for the — for churches themselves. The exemption does not necessarily extend to institutions like hospitals or universities that employ people of all faiths. But these same rules apply in countries like Italy which have overwhelming numbers of Catholics. And yet we did not see the reaction in those countries to these sorts of things.

read: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/06/419179/omalley-contraception-catholic-hyperventilating/
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Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood Action Fund highlighted O’Malley’s commitment to ensuring affordable health care for all women in a statement sent to Bustle:

“Martin O’Malley has been a strong advocate for women’s health and rights. As governor of Maryland, he worked to protect women’s access to safe and legal abortion and also supported access to affordable birth control. During his term, he signed a law that ensures low-income women in Maryland have access to free pregnancy counseling, contraception, as well as lifesaving cancer screenings.

“Martin O’Malley’s record is in stark contrast to the GOP presidential contenders so far who are in a race to the bottom on women’s health. With his strong leadership and commitment to women, we welcome him as another champion for women’s health to the presidential field.”

Gov. O'Malley invited more than 20 young women from middle schools across the state to the Governor's Leadership Forum for Women and Girls in Annapolis to talk about how more women can rise to leadership roles and succeed. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/sets/72157642955794814)