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3901
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MARVIN MANDEL, Governor
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dead.
Article 43, Section 137(b) (2) requires approval of
the hospital abortion review authority, and subsection
(c) sets out procedures to be followed by the hospital
abortion review authority. In Doe, supra., the Supreme
Court revived a Georgia requirement that performance of an
abortion be approved in advance by a committee of the
medical staff of the hospital in which the abortion is to
be performed, and concluded that:
"...the interposition of the hospital abortion
committee is unduly restrictive of the
patient's rights and needs that, at this
point, have already been medically
delineated and substantiated by her personal
physician." Doe v. Bolton, 410 U. S. at
198.
The Court held that the requirement of approval by a
hospital abortion review committee was violative of the
Fourteenth Amendment and, accordingly, the requirement of
Article 43, Section 137 (b)(2) and (c) is
unconstitutional.
To summarize, the effect of the decisions in Roe__v.
Wade, supra., and Doe v. Bolton, supra., is that: (1)
the portions of Article 43, Sections 137 and 139 that
require that an abortion be performed in an accredited
and licensed hospital are unconstitutional; (2) Article
43, Section 137 (a)(1), (2), (3) and (4) limiting
abortions to situations where one or more of the
enumerated conditions exist is unconstitutional; (3)
Article 43, Section 137(b) insofar as it prohibits
abortion after twenty—six weeks gestation (except in the
limited circumstances referred to therein) is
unconstitutional; and (4) Article 43, Section 137(b) and
(c) to the extent that it requires approval of a hospital
abortion review committee is unconstitutional.
The remaining portions of Article 43, Sections 137
and 139 that require abortions to be performed by
physicians licensed by the State continue to be valid.
Article 1, Section 23, Annotated Code of Maryland
provides that provisions of statutes enacted after July
1, 1973 are severable unless specifically provided
otherwise. Although Article 43, Sections 137 and 139
were enacted before July 1, 1973, case law applicable to
statutes enacted prior to the date contained in Article
1, Section 23 indicates that a court would construe
Article 43, Sections 137 and 139 in such a way as to give
effect to the requirement that abortions be performed by
a physician, Shell Oil Company v. Supervisors of
Assessments, 276 Md. 36 (1975).
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