Maine

More women in Maine, nation turning to medication abortion

Published

2 years ago

August 28, 2022

More women in Maine, nation turning to medication abortion

Aleisha Reynolds, 43, of Portland acquired an early medicine abortion when she was an artwork pupil in Massachusetts in 2001. Brianna Soukup/Employees Photographer

When she came upon she was pregnant in 2017, Savannah didn’t know what to do. Simply 19 years previous, she didn’t wish to have a child – not then, not ever – however she tried to want the being pregnant away, afraid that she could be judged or pressured to hold it to time period if she advised anybody her secret.

“I simply needed to die,” stated Savannah, who didn’t wish to give her final identify. “I simply pretended I didn’t know as a result of I didn’t know what to do.”

9 weeks handed earlier than a pal guessed she was pregnant and advised her about Maine Household Planning.

An abortion counselor in Augusta took Savannah’s medical historical past and walked her via her choices. Earlier than leaving the clinic, the Rockland teen took the primary of two abortion capsules to induce the miscarriage that may finish her secret being pregnant later that night time within the privateness of her childhood bed room.

Privateness is without doubt one of the main causes that medicine abortion has turn into the popular means of ending an undesirable being pregnant. Nationally, about 54 p.c of U.S. ladies selected the abortion tablet over a surgical abortion in 2020, based on the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive well being analysis group.

Maine ladies present a fair stronger choice for medicine abortion, particularly for the reason that pandemic, based on Maine’s three abortion clinics, starting from half of abortion recipients at Mabel Wadsworth Heart to about two-thirds of Deliberate Parenthood and Maine Household Planning sufferers.

When a affected person finds out they’re pregnant, and so they don’t wish to be, they often wish to treatment the difficulty as quickly as doable, stated Andrea Pelletier, the medical director at Deliberate Parenthood of Northern New England. A clinic has a whole lot of flexibility to shortly add medicine abortions to the schedule.

“Girls have a whole lot of emotions about their abortions, by hook or by crook, so something that offers them just a little extra management over it, that’s a very good factor,” stated Pelletier. “And it’s good that Maine ladies have that selection. As everyone knows, not all ladies do.”

That flexibility implies that Maine has the flexibility to soak up sufferers touring from states which might be both banning or curbing abortion within the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling – typically arriving right here of their second trimester, in want of a surgical abortion – whereas nonetheless serving Maine ladies.

Maine clinics have supplied abortions to a couple dozen out-of-state sufferers who’ve traveled right here to get the care that’s now unlawful of their house state, however not in large enough numbers to trigger anyone in want of a surgical process to have to attend any longer than regular to get an appointment.

Actually, worldwide firms past the attain of U.S. courts which might be prepared to mail abortion capsules to ladies who dwell in states the place abortion is now unlawful could mute the sensible influence of the Dobbs ruling, suppliers right here say.

Sufferers who go for medicine abortion additionally like the pliability of taking the capsules the place and when they need, saying they wish to resolve when to take the capsules that induce the heavy cramping and bleeding to allow them to take a day without work work, have somebody there to assist them, or ship their children to a pal’s home.

Though Maine’s clinics cost the identical for a typical medicine abortion as a surgical one – $500 to $550 – the tender prices are sometimes decrease. Some suppliers approve medicine abortions via telehealth appointments and mail the capsules; these sufferers don’t should miss work, rent babysitters or pay for journey.

The usage of medicine abortion has been rising steadily since its approval in 2000 by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration, however pandemic-related adjustments to the healthcare setting and sufferers’ need for no-touch medical care led to a dramatic surge in medicine abortions throughout the pandemic.

At Maine Household Planning, which operates 18 clinics in far-flung communities throughout the state, a couple of third of all pre-pandemic abortion seekers opted for medicine abortion. Now that quantity has grown to two-thirds, with no indicators of slowing down, stated Mareisa Weil, vp of growth.

General, nevertheless, the variety of abortions carried out in each Maine and the U.S. continues to say no.

“Each abortion story is exclusive,” Weil stated. “Some individuals desire a clinic. They need a physician’s care, to know they’re not going to go away the constructing pregnant. Others need privateness, the comfort of a tablet. That’s why we’d like capsules in our fingers and clinics in our communities. We deserve each.”

Coloration designer Aleisha Reynolds of Portland opted for a drugs abortion 20 years in the past. “Lots of it was simply to minimize trauma,” she says. Brianna Soukup/Employees Photographer

Aleisha Reynolds, a 43-year-old colour designer who lives in Portland, acquired an early medicine abortion from a Deliberate Parenthood clinic in Worcester, Mass., in 2001. RU-486 had hit the U.S. market a yr earlier, and the then-22-year-old Clark College artwork pupil didn’t know something about it.

“It was a straightforward resolution for me to get an abortion – I used to be in an unhealthy relationship, no good for teenagers – however I walked into the clinic not understanding what I used to be going to do about it precisely,” Reynolds stated. “A tablet simply appeared simpler, quicker to make occur, and fewer invasive.”

It additionally meant she might keep away from coming again on a weekend, when all surgical abortions befell and the clinic could be surrounded by offended protesters yelling at younger ladies who went inside, Reynolds stated. And he or she didn’t wish to have to attend weeks to guide an appointment for a surgical abortion.

“Lots of it was simply to minimize trauma, from the individuals outdoors, the wait, the process itself,” she stated.

She thought medicine abortion was going to be simple, however it wasn’t. She endured heavy bleeding and cramping, which was regular however nonetheless painful. She didn’t speak about it for a very long time, although she has by no means regretted it, as a result of she didn’t wish to should cope with the judgment of others.

“I really like my life proper now,” stated Reynolds. “I had the alternatives I had as a result of I made the choice. I acknowledge it was greater than a tablet, that I made a selection that modified my life, and I’m nice with it. It was my selection. I’m kinda pissed that different individuals don’t have that.”

MEDICATION ABORTION RULES EASE

The fashionable model of what began off as RU-486 consists of an preliminary dose of mifepristone, which stops manufacturing of the hormone wanted to develop a being pregnant, adopted by misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract and expel its contents.

These are each medicine which have makes use of outdoors of an abortion clinic, Pelletier notes – mifepristone is used to assist ladies who’ve suffered a miscarriage, whereas misoprostol can be utilized to induce labor and put together the cervix for biopsy and IUD insertion and could be obtained with a prescription at a pharmacy.

A 2015 research discovered that medicine abortion used within the first 9 weeks of being pregnant was efficient 99.6 p.c of the time, with a .04 p.c probability of main problems – safer than having a knowledge tooth extracted, Pelletier stated. The effectiveness dips after 9 weeks, however goes again up with a second dose.

Ten years in the past, Mainers needed to go to an abortion clinic to get screened for eligibility, get an ultrasound so far their being pregnant to gauge how a lot medicine to take, decide up the medicine and take the primary of the two-dose routine contained in the clinic, underneath the watchful eye of scientific employees.

However the guidelines round medicine abortion have been relaxed. Analysis has proven ultrasounds aren’t wanted if a affected person is aware of the date of her final menstrual cycle. Telehealth practices put into place for a pandemic setting are actually getting used to conduct abortion eligibility screenings.

Sufferers was required to take the primary dose of the abortion tablet, the mifepristone, contained in the clinic, however the FDA waived that requirement throughout the pandemic, equating it to an over-the-counter medicine. It has since made that change everlasting.

It additionally opened the door to mailing the kits to telehealth-screened and endorsed sufferers, creating a very no-touch abortion – one thing Maine Household Planning has been doing for years as a part of a government-approved patient-managed abortion research, stated Lindsey Piper, Maine Household Planning’s lead clinician.

Deliberate Parenthood will now mail abortion capsules to eligible sufferers. Mabel Wadsworth nonetheless requires all sufferers to select up their abortion capsules in individual, and take the primary one within the clinic, however it’s exploring the opportunity of take-home and mail-order medicine for the longer term, stated lead clinician Bonnie Case.

It has embraced telehealth abortion counseling when doable, and has dropped its requirement for the follow-up ultrasound in favor of a easy urine-based being pregnant check to verify the abortion capsules have labored, Case stated.

These further affected person protections, or what some could contemplate restrictions, could clarify why the abortion tablet accounts for a smaller share of the general variety of abortions at Mabel – about half – than at Maine’s different two abortion suppliers, Household Planning and Deliberate Parenthood.

Sufferers should dwell in Maine and conform to take the abortion capsules in Maine, the place abortion remains to be authorized, to select up the medicine on the clinic or organize to have it mailed to them, Piper stated. However lots of Piper’s sufferers don’t wish to watch for the mail and like to drive to the clinic on the day their plan is authorized.

It will be unlawful to mail the capsules to somebody intending to finish a being pregnant – theirs or another person’s – in a state that has outlawed abortion, Piper stated. Additionally, Maine abortion suppliers should not allowed to follow medication or prescribe medication in a state the place they aren’t licensed.

The rising choice for medicine abortion has drawn the hearth of abortion foes. Conservative states are passing legal guidelines to make it much less handy and inexpensive by requiring a affected person to take capsules contained in the clinic, requiring a physician to dispense them as an alternative of a nurse, or banning the follow outright.

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Maine

Maine State Police respond to dozens of highway crashes amid Saturday snow

Published

7 hours ago

January 11, 2025

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Maine State Police respond to dozens of highway crashes amid Saturday snow

Maine State Police responded to more than 50 crashes and road slide-offs Saturday after southern Maine woke up to some light snowfall.

Police were responding to several crashes on the Maine Turnpike (Interstate 95) and Interstate 295 south of Augusta, state police said in a Facebook message posted around 10 a.m. Saturday.

Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said that as of early Saturday afternoon, more than 50 crashes had been reported on the turnpike and I-295.

“The Turnpike has seen 24 crashes and slide offs primarily between Kittery and Falmouth with a higher concentration in Saco,” Moss wrote in an email. “The interstate has seen about 30 crashes and slide offs also in the Falmouth area but now in Lincoln and heading north.”

Moss said no injuries have been reported in any of the crashes.

“So far it appears visibility and driving too fast for road conditions are the causation factors,” Moss said.

State police reminded drivers to take caution, especially during snowy conditions, in the Facebook post.

“Please drive with extra care and give yourself plenty of space between you and the other vehicles on the roadway,” the post said. “Give the MDOT and Turnpike plows extra consideration and space to do their jobs to clear the roadway. Drive slow, plan for the extra time to get to your destination and be safe.”

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Maine

Maine real estate mostly unaffected by commission changes

Published

16 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Maine real estate mostly unaffected by commission changes

New rules that went into effect in August changing who pays real estate commissions have resulted in more paperwork and some anxiety for home buyers and sellers but have had little, if any, impact on home prices in the state’s hot real estate market.

The changes, which stem from a settlement in a lawsuit accusing real estate agents of conspiring to keep their commissions high, altered the way commission fees are set nationally.

For decades, most home sales in the United States have included a commission fee, typically between 5 and 6 percent of the sale price.

The typical Maine home went for around $400,000 this fall. A 5 to 6 percent commission on a $400,000 home would be between $20,000 and $24,000, split between the agents for the buyer and the seller.

Before the changes in August, the split for each agent was predetermined by the seller, who paid the fee for both agents. That usually resulted in fees being baked into the list price of a home.

In some states (although not in Maine) agents were able to search the multiple listing service, a catalogue of homes for sale, by the commission split, which critics said incentivized agents to steer clients toward more expensive properties with higher commissions.

Now, fees are negotiated sale-by-sale. Buyers and sellers are now each responsible for paying their own agents, meaning a buyer may have to come with more cash up front if a seller doesn’t want to pay the commission fee for a buyer’s agent. Sellers are also no longer allowed to include commission fees in their listings.

Tacy Ridlon, a listing agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate The Masiello Group in Ellsworth, who has been in real estate for 32 years, said it is a bit jarring to have a conversation with buyers about whether they are willing to pay part of their agent’s commission.

Once the commission is established and the agreement signed, she said, the buyer’s agent then approaches the seller’s agent to see what part of their commission the seller is willing to cover, if any.

Ridlon said 3 percent for the buyer’s agent is a typical starting point.

“We have to start high. If the seller is willing to offer 2 percent for the buyer’s agent, then our buyer only has to pay one percent… If the seller is not offering anything, then we ask the buyer to pay a certain amount. Some can pay and some can’t. For some it’s very difficult because they don’t have a lot of money to play around with.”

The change has resulted in some confusion for many buyers and even some agents around the country, as rules differ from state-to-state. Photo by Kate Cough.

Some agents said they found the changes minimal; others find the paperwork and negotiating with buyers daunting. One agency owner said the ruling has done little to bring prices down.

“This ruling has done nothing to save buyers or sellers any money,” said Billy Milliken, a designated broker and owner of Bold Coast Properties, LLC, in Jonesport. “If anything, it’s made the cost of buying a home even more expensive.”

Milliken said his sellers have had no problem agreeing to pay both buyers’ and sellers’ commissions. The cost has been embedded in the price of the property.

“The real loser is first time home buyers who are not educated in buying a home and also have limited cash resources,” said Milliken. “It puts them at a disadvantage.”

The change has resulted in some confusion for many buyers and even some agents around the country, as rules differ from state-to-state.

People are slowly getting used to the changes, said Monet Yarnell, president of the Midcoast Board of Realtors, who owns her own agency, Sell 207 in Belfast, adding that Maine’s real estate practices were already more transparent than many other areas of the country.

“I think it was a little confusing in the beginning, more doom and gloom,” said Yarnell. But sellers are still incentivized to offer something to the buyers’ agents, she said. And the changes have increased the level of communication between agents and their clients.

“It’s more how the money flows rather than the actual dollars.”

Ridlon, in Ellsworth, said she has been fortunate that most sellers have offered some compensation toward the buyer’s agent commission. “I have not had a buyer who can’t do the 3 percent.”

Ridlon had one seller who was not willing to pay any part of the buyer’s agent’s commission. The property had a lot of showings, but many of the buyers asked for closing costs to be covered or for concessions in lieu of picking up part of the commission.

“That didn’t really work for my seller either,” she said. “Then he relented and said he would pay one percent.”

The property sold.

Debbie Walter sold her condominium in Stockton Springs via Yarnell and then bought another condominium in New London, N.H., with another real estate agent.

“We’re kind of guinea pigs,” said Walter. “We were very concerned about that whole piece, both as sellers and buyers.”

Fearful the sale of their house might not proceed smoothly the couple readily agreed to pay a 3 percent commission for the buyer’s agent.

When they made their offer to buy the condominium in N.H., they offered as buyers to cover their buyer’s agent’s commission as well. But the seller in that case took an equally cautious approach and offered to cover 2.5 percent of the buyer’s agent’s commission, which Walters’ agent accepted.

“It was very stressful,” Walter said. Offering to cover their buyer’s agent’s commission, she said, created “one less headache for the whole closing procedure.”

Tom McKee, president of the Maine Realtors Association, said the settlement and new rules have had little impact.

“It hasn’t changed anything for me,” said McKee, who is with Keller Williams in Portland. Now that the commission split is no longer listed in the M.L.S., said McKee, “there are just more questions in the transaction.”

McKee said there is no set percentage, that everything is negotiable.

“If we do our job right and are meeting with the client first, they already understand.”

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Maine

Maine’s highest court proposes barring justices from disciplining peers

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2025

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Maine’s highest court proposes barring justices from disciplining peers

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has proposed new rules governing judicial conduct complaints that would keep members of the high court from having to discipline their peers.

The proposed rules would establish a panel of eight judges — the four most senior active Superior Court justices and the four most senior active District Court judges who are available to serve — to weigh complaints against a justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Members of the high court would not participate.

The rule changes come just weeks after the Committee on Judicial Conduct recommended the first sanction against a justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in state history.

The committee said Justice Catherine Connors should be publicly reprimanded, the lowest level of sanction, for failing to recuse herself in two foreclosure cases last year that weakened protections for homeowners in Maine, despite a history of representing banks that created a possible conflict of interest. Connors represented or filed on behalf of banks in two precedent-setting cases that were overturned by the 2024 decisions.

In Maine, it’s up to the Supreme Judicial Court to decide the outcome of judicial disciplinary cases. But because in this case one of the high court’s justices is accused of wrongdoing, the committee recommended following the lead of several other states by bringing in a panel of outside judges, either from other levels of the court or from out of state.

Connors, however, believes the case should be heard by her colleagues on the court, according to a response filed late last month by her attorney, James Bowie.

Bowie argued that the outcome of the case will ultimately provide guidance for the lower courts — a power that belongs exclusively to the state supreme court.

It should not, he wrote, be delegated “to some other ad hoc grouping of inferior judicial officers.”

The court is accepting comments on the proposal until Jan. 23. The changes, if adopted, would be effective immediately and would apply to pending matters, including the Connors complaint.

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