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SB 302 creates a new Maryland felony, punishable by up to 25 years imprisonment, for knowingly and willfully causing a pregnant person to ingest an abortion-inducing drug without consent, through fraud or coercion, or by force or threat of force.
OUR POSITIONSenate Bill 302 adds a new section, 3-216, to the Criminal Law Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. It defines an abortion-inducing drug as any drug, medicine, or medicinal or chemical preparation for internal human consumption that is designed to induce an abortion. The prohibition applies when a person knowingly and willfully causes another to ingest such a drug, knows or believes the other person is pregnant, and does so without consent, through fraud or coercion, or by force or threat of force. A violation is a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years imprisonment. The law would take effect October 1, 2026.
Maryland's existing criminal statutes have not addressed this specific act by name. By adding section 3-216, the General Assembly would close that gap with precise, targeted language. The bill does not restrict the lawful, voluntary use of abortion-inducing drugs; it criminalizes the act of administering them to a pregnant person against her will or without her knowledge. That narrow scope is both legally significant and morally important.
People of faith understand that every human life carries inherent dignity from its earliest moments. When someone secretly or forcibly ends a pregnancy the mother chose to continue, two people are wronged: the mother, whose bodily autonomy and parental desire are violated, and the child, whose life is taken without any recourse. SB 302 names both of those harms and treats the conduct that causes them as the serious crime it is.
Genuine freedom for women includes the freedom to carry a pregnancy to term without fear that a partner, family member, or anyone else will chemically override that decision. Coerced chemical abortion is an act of predatory control. A 25-year felony sentence reflects the gravity of that harm and provides a meaningful deterrent. The American Council supports SB 302 without reservation as a protection of women's real freedom and of innocent human life.
SB 302 was introduced on January 21, 2026, assigned to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, and had a hearing scheduled for February 5, 2026; it has not yet been voted out of committee. The bill carries six Senate sponsors, all from the Republican caucus, which reflects minority-party sponsorship in a chamber where Democrats hold a substantial majority, a posture that historically requires bipartisan crossover support to advance. The Maryland General Assembly's session runs 90 days and typically accelerates toward a crossover deadline in mid-session, meaning committee action in the weeks immediately following the February 5 hearing represents the window where constituent contact with Judicial Proceedings Committee members and the bill's sponsors carries the most weight.