BALTIMORE — With just a little more than a week left in the legislative session, a slate of bills focused on Maryland women has advanced through the General Assembly, tackling issues from maternal health and menopause care to child care access and public safety.

Taken together, the measures reflect a growing recognition among lawmakers that policy gaps affecting women span nearly every stage of life — from pregnancy through aging, from caregiving to incarceration. But they also expose a pattern all too familiar in Annapolis: While many proposals have gained traction in one chamber, several face uncertain futures in the other.

Across policy areas, the legislation highlights the scope of these challenges and the limits of how far lawmakers may be able to go this year to address them as the state legislature barrels toward the end of its 90-day stretch.

Advocates told The Baltimore Sun that the moment reflects progress and persistent barriers.

“There’s just a culture of stigma around (women’s issues), and this growing conservativeness around bodily autonomy that almost makes it harder to have these conversations and push these bills that are meant to protect all of us,” Maniza Habib, a research associate at the Population Institute — a nonprofit promoting sexual health and reproductive rights, told The Baltimore Sun in a Friday interview. ”

Health care gaps

Two bills this session aimed at closing long-standing gaps in women’s health care, with one focused on the postpartum period and another on menopause, have advanced out of the House and await deliberation in the Senate. The Senate version of both bills, however, stalled in committee.

One proposal, cross-filed as House Bill 1118 and Senate Bill 891, would require insurers to cover screenings for perinatal mental health conditions and mandate that providers conduct those screenings during pregnancy and the year after birth. The bill also directs the Maryland Department of Health, or MDH, to standardize screening tools, expand provider training and improve referral pathways so patients can access care more quickly.

“Behavioral health conditions are the leading cause of pregnancy-associated deaths in Maryland,” Sen. Dawn Gile, the bill’s sponsor, told reporters this week. Data from the MDH’s Maternal Mortality review annual report found that substance use and suicide are consistently among the leading causes of pregnancy-associated deaths in the state. “Too many women are screened but not connected to care. Too many are left navigating a fragmented system when time is critical.”

A second measure, cross-filed as House Bill 1121 and Senate Bill 892, would require insurers to cover evaluation and treatment of perimenopause and menopause symptoms while expanding training requirements for health care providers. While the House bill did not make it past the crossover deadline, the Senate bill has passed its chamber and awaits a final vote in the House.

According to their fiscal notes, both proposals carry relatively modest costs for the state but could increase health care spending for insurers and local governments.

“These bills focus on different phases of life, but they reflect the same fundamental issue that women’s health has too often been minimized or delayed,” Gile said. “Our job is to change that, to build a system that listens, responds, and ensures women can access care when they need it.”

Safety and bodily autonomy

A second group of bills focuses on protections tied to women’s bodily autonomy, including stronger penalties for female genital mutilation and cutting, or FGMC, expanded privacy protections for survivors of sexual assault and access to emergency abortion care.

Senate Bill 907 and House Bill 1389, which have passed both chambers and await final approval from the opposing chamber, would update Maryland’s prohibition on FGMC, which hasn’t been updated since the 1990s. The identical measures expand the legal definition of child abuse, increase criminal penalties and allow victims to pursue civil action, while also addressing vacation cutting, a practice in which individuals are taken out of state or overseas for the procedure.

“You’d be surprised to know that approximately 30,000 girls in Maryland are at risk,” Sen. Sara Love, the bill’s sponsor, said this week.

Habib said while the figure Love cited is widely used and reflective of national statistics, it is far from perfect. “The numbers that we do have are … really old and not fully representative,” Habib said, adding that FGMC is often underreported and rates can both overrepresent and underrepresent who is actually at risk.

The bill also includes education requirements, directing state health officials to work with community organizations to raise awareness, and reporting requirements, a step advocates say is critical. “Anyone is at risk of FGMC of any community, of any religious group, and that is proven,” Habib said. “It is something we have to address as a whole community and take responsibility for.”

At the same time, she said, enforcement alone is unlikely to prevent the practice as it is often done by a trusted adult who lacks awareness of the harm it can do. Instead, Habib praised Love’s bill for prioritizing education, which she urged to be expanded as in neighboring states like Virginia.

Another proposal, cross-filed as Senate Bill 294 and House Bill 450, would require courts to redact identifying information of sexual assault and stalking victims in case records. While the House version of the bill stalled in committee after a hearing last month, the Senate version has passed the chamber and awaits deliberation in the House.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in both chambers have advanced a bill to guarantee access to emergency abortion care, requiring hospitals to stabilize patients experiencing pregnancy-related complications, regardless of religious affiliation. Hospitals that fail to comply could face financial penalties.

It now awaits the governor’s signature but the measure has drawn stark opposition from some religious groups, who maintain that it infringes on the rights of faith-based hospitals.

However, Habib emphasized that the bills underscore broader concerns about access to care. “In moments of emergency, people need clarity about what care they can receive and where,” Habib said. “Without that, delays can become dangerous.”

Child care access

Another set of bills centers on child care — a persistent challenge for Maryland families that lawmakers say directly affects women’s ability to work.

House Bills 849 and 1321, companion pieces of legislation, would expand access to the state’s child care scholarship program by broadening eligibility and creating a sliding-scale system that caps family payments at 7% of household income.

The proposals, which have advanced out of the House and await Senate deliberation, also aim to connect families on waiting lists with alternative early education programs and extend funding for a credentialing program that supports child care workers through training and tuition assistance.

A separate set of cross-filed bills, House Bill 561 and Senate Bill 467, would require the governor to extend the state’s child care credential program by almost $5.7 million starting in fiscal year 2028. The program aims to help child care workers participate in professional development activities, education training and tuition assistance. The House bill has passed the chamber and awaits deliberation in the opposing one, but the Senate version did not make it past the crossover deadline.

“Our state relies on strong child care systems so that parents can continue working while their children learn and grow in a safe, high-quality environment,” Sen. Nancy King, who sponsored the Senate bill, said this week, adding that child care is a “complex, multifaceted system” that underpins both family stability and the broader economy.

Incarceration and the justice system

Lawmakers have also taken steps to address disparities affecting women in the criminal justice system, advancing a bill aimed at creating a long-promised prerelease center for incarcerated women.

Senate Bill 187, which was advanced by the Senate and awaits deliberation in the House, would formalize the facility as a reentry center, establish timelines for construction and require oversight to ensure progress after years of delays.

Maryland has not had a stand-alone prerelease center for women since 2009, bill sponsor Sen. Mary Washington told reporters this week, leaving many without the structured support available to men transitioning out of incarceration.

“Thousands of women that we often don’t see and don’t think of are a part of our public safety and corrections system,” she said, adding that the lack of reentry services in the state has left many women without housing, employment support or a clear transition plan upon release.

The current proposal seeks to reinforce a previous mandate to build the facility, following setbacks that included a gubernatorial veto and funding delays. The identical House bill stalled in committee and did not make it past the crossover deadline.

As the session enters its final stretch, the fate of many of these bills remains uncertain. Habib maintained that the outcome will signal more than the success or failure of individual proposals — it will reflect how far Maryland is willing to go in addressing systemic gaps affecting women.

“I would not be surprised either way, just because of the way these kinds of bills work,” Habib said. “I think if they were to pass, it’s high time and it’s overdue … but neither avenue is incredibly surprising to me.”

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