Maryland Gender Justice Rally 2023

Maryland Gender Justice Rally

Stand with women and raise your voice.

Urge Maryland legislators to pass bills to protect and advance gender-based rights.

March 6th, 2023 supporters gathered for a rally at Lawyer’s Mall in Annapolis to urge for the passage of legislation pending in the Maryland General Assembly seeking to protect and advance gender-based rights.

For 2023, we are focused around legislation surrounding:

Reproductive Rights
Health Care
Bodily Safety
Economic Justice

Legislation Highlighted for the 2023 Session

Health Care

HB 477 / SB 341 Public Senior Higher Education Institutions – Reproductive Health Services Plans – Requirements

Requiring, on or before August 1, 2024, each public senior higher education institution, in consultation with students, to develop and implement a reproductive health services plan to provide at the institution or to refer students to a comprehensive range of reproductive health services; and requiring the Maryland Department of Health, on request, to provide assistance to a public senior higher education institution in developing the plan.

HB 283 / SB 460 Gender-Affirming Treatment (Trans Health Equity Act)

Requiring, beginning on January 1, 2023, the Maryland Medical Assistance Program to provide gender-affirming treatment in a nondiscriminatory manner; requiring that the gender-affirming treatment be assessed according to nondiscriminatory criteria that are consistent with current clinical standards; prohibiting the issuance of an adverse benefit determination related to gender-affirming treatment unless a certain experienced health care provider has reviewed and confirmed the appropriateness of the determination; etc.

HB 376 / SB 184 Diagnostic and Supplemental Examinations for Breast Cancer
Prohibiting insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations that provide coverage for diagnostic and supplemental breast examinations from imposing a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible requirement for the examination; and applying the Act to all policies, contracts, and health benefit plans issued, delivered, or renewed in the State on or after January 1, 2024.

Bodily Safety

HB 4 – SB 129 – Criminal Law – Sexual Crimes – Repeal of Spousal Defense
Repealing a certain prohibition on prosecuting a person for rape or a certain sexual offense against a victim who was the person’s legal spouse at the time of the alleged rape or sexual offense.
HB297 / SB 292 Victims of Child Sex Trafficking and Human Trafficking – Safe Harbor and Service Response
Altering procedures that a law enforcement officer and a court are required to follow when the law enforcement officer or court has reason to believe that a child who has been detained is a victim of sex trafficking or a victim of human trafficking; providing that a minor may not be criminally prosecuted or proceeded against under certain provisions of law for a certain offense if the minor committed the offense as a direct result of being a victim of sex trafficking or being a victim of human trafficking; etc.
HB 003 / SB 185 Firearms Surrendered Under Final Protective Orders
Altering the purpose of the Maryland State Police Gun Center to include the tracking, screening, and vetting of all firearms surrendered under final protective orders in the State; and requiring each law enforcement agency to report to the Center the number and type of firearms surrendered, the jurisdictions where the firearms were surrendered, and certain information regarding the individual who surrendered each firearm under final protective orders.
HB 412 Criminal Law – Sexual Crimes – Consent and Second-Degree Rape
Requiring certain facts to be considered when determining whether a lack of consent exists for the purposes of certain sexual crimes; and altering the elements of second-degree rape to remove the requirement of use of force or threat of force.

Economic Justice

HB 832 Labor and Employment – Equal Pay for Equal Work – Wage Range Transparency
Altering the requirement that an employer disclose certain wage information to an applicant for employment; requiring an employer or, under certain circumstances, an employer agency, to disclose certain wage information in certain postings and to certain employees at certain times; requiring an employer to set the wage range disclosed in good faith; prohibiting an employer from taking a certain retaliatory action; and requiring each employer to keep a record of compliance with certain provisions of the Act.
HB 1158 General Provisions – Commemorative Days – Equal Pay Commemoration Day
Requiring the Governor annually to proclaim March 15 as Equal Pay Commemoration Day; and requiring the proclamation to urge governmental, educational, and cultural organizations to reflect on the contributions of women to the economy, and on efforts to establish and promote equality in the workplace through appropriate and informative programs and activities.
HB 495 / SB 350 Child Care Scholarship Program – Funding
Altering the calculation for the funding of the Child Care Scholarship Program beginning in fiscal year 2025; limiting the circumstances under which the Program may be frozen; requiring certain reimbursement rates and income eligibility requirements for the Program; and prohibiting the copayment levels for the Program from exceeding certain copayment levels.

Reproductive Rights

HB 808 / SB 859 Reproductive Health Protection Act
Prohibiting a judge from requiring a person to give certain testimony or a statement or to produce evidence in another state for a case involving an alleged violation of the criminal law of the other state relating to legally protected health care; requiring, subject to certain exceptions, that a request for a foreign subpoena include a sworn statement that the subpoena is not intended or anticipated to further an investigation or proceeding related to legally protected health care; etc.
HB 705 / SB 798 Right to Reproductive Freedom
Establishing that every person, as a central component of an individual’s rights to liberty and equality, has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom; and prohibiting the State from, directly or indirectly, denying, burdening, or abridging the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.
HB 812 / SB 786 Reproductive Health Services – Protected Information and Insurance Requirements
Regulating the disclosure of certain information related to legally protected health care by custodians of public records, health care providers, health information exchanges, and dispensers; requiring that the regulations adopted by the Maryland Health Care Commission regarding clinical information to be exchanged through the State- designated exchange restrict data of patients who have obtained legally protected health care; etc.