Maine’s Laws on Life Issues Are Like Its Topography-Alone in the Wilderness
Summary of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Whitepaper
For a PDF copy of the full Maine Whitepaper, please click here
Maine has been used as a test state for a number of health-related issues, including several physician-assisted suicide bills which were voted down by the Maine legislature and Mainers in a citizen initiated referendum.
Life Issues
While the Court and both houses of the Maine legislature have refused to apply and allow extended protection to the unborn, Maine citizens have been active in forming pro-life coalitions and using the referendum process to voice their concerns and educate the public.
Abortion
Despite Maine laws restricting abortions post-viability to only when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother, the reporting requirement is unenforced and doctors who blatantly fail to comply with the statute are not prosecuted. While the Court has not addressed these statutes, Federal District Courts have in Jones v. Eastern Maine Medical Center, held that the abortion statute neither prohibited nor required the performance of abortions by physicians or health care facilities, and Women’s Community Health Center, Inc. v. Richard Cohen, granting preliminary injunction to prohibit the enforcement of parental notification and a 48-hour waiting period but denying the injunction against counseling a women to ensure informed consent.
In Lisa Roche v. Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine, the Court affirmed the lower court’s decision to refuse a request for an investigation of reports of costly first-trimester D&E abortions funded through Medicaid. In Milton v. Cary Medical Center, the Court held that a viable fetus was not entitled to maintain a cause of action for wrongful death. But, in Macomber v. Dillman, involving a failed sterilization procedure, the Court allowed limited damages for the wrongful birth of a healthy baby, a decision later codified by the Maine Legislature. The Court in Thibeault v. Larson interpreted the statute as also allowing a cause of action for failure to perform an amniocentesis where a baby is born with Down Syndrome.
Protection of the Unborn from Criminal Violence
Although Maine has two statutes that provide enhanced penalties for assaulting a pregnant woman, no law protects the unborn from criminal violence and there are no decisions from the Court on this issue.
Assisted Suicide
Maine law provides for Advance Directives but prohibits physician-assisted suicide. While the Court has not addressed the issue of assisted suicide, it held in In re: Gardner that life-sustaining measures should be discontinued for a patient in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for improvement even where there is no clear evidence of consent. Maine law distinguishes nutrition and hydration from other medical or life-sustaining procedures, prohibiting the withdrawal of the former in all cases but the later only in cases not involving a terminally ill patient. In Guardianship of Susan Boyle, the Court clarified that the right of personal autonomy recognized in Gardner is not absolute and does not apply to an involuntary psychiatric patient’s refusal to take antipsychotic drugs.
Healthcare Rights of Conscience
Maine law protects physicians, nurses, other people, hospitals, health care facilities, etc. from discrimination in the abortion context. The Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on an individual’s religion, was enforced in Maine Human Rights Commission v. Local 1361, United Paper workers, which involved an employee’s refusal to pay monthly Union dues because of her religious beliefs.
Cloning and Destructive Embryo Research
While there are no cloning statutes in Maine and the Court has not decided a case involving this issue, Maine is quickly becoming a center for stem cell research. In a similar vein, while Maine has no statutes concerning embryonic research and the Court has not addressed this area, huge amounts of state money is being allocated to the Maine Biomedical Research Coalition.
Judicial Restraint
The Court is not a true activist court, but uses precedent according to the majority’s desired outcome. With respect to statutes, the Court has stated that some, including those in derogation of common law, criminal statutes, and tax statutes, will be construed strictly while others, such as remedial statutes, are to be interpreted broadly. Otherwise, the Court first looks to the plain language of the statute and then only to extrinsic sources if that language is ambiguous. The same approach is used when construing Constitutional provisions except with the premise that the Legislature intended the language to be read broadly.
The Court
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is composed of seven justices appointed by the Governor for seven year terms subject to reaching mandatory retirement age or removal by impeachment or by address of both branches of the Legislature and the Executive. Even after the term ends, a judicial officer may continue to hold office for an additional period not to exceed six months or until a successor is appointed, or if retired, may be appointed by the Governor as an Active Retired Justice. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court White Paper contains a table of biographical information for each current member of the Court.
For a PDF copy of the full Maine Whitepaper, please click here