ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan won't grant a request by the state's comptroller on Wednesday to immediately make $3.5 million available to pay for training to prepare medical professionals other than physicians to perform abortions when a new law takes effect this summer, a spokesman said.
Michael Ricci, the spokesman, said in a statement that the Republican governor "firmly believes, as stated in his veto of this partisan measure, that non-licensed physicians should not be performing these medical procedures."
"Suddenly releasing taxpayer dollars for this purpose would run counter to those concerns about setting back the standards for women's health," Ricci wrote in an email.
Comptroller Peter Franchot, the state's tax collector who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, cited a leaked draft this week of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion that suggested the court's conservative majority is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade — the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion.
"Given the significant danger the impending Court decision has on millions of women and families, I am calling on you to immediately release the $3.5 million restricted in the Fiscal Year 2023 operating budget to provide funding for abortion care training programs at community-based and hospital-based provider sites," Franchot wrote in a letter to the governor, who is term limited.
