The Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to review this Friday a proposal to have the state pay for poor women’s abortions.

It brought the Catholic bishop of Maine to the Statehouse steps last week, where he denounced abortion as a “primal evil” and moral “outrage.”

“Thank you very much for being here,” Bishop Richard Malone told the pro-life group gathered on the front lawn of the capitol. “You are a public witness to the sanctity of human life.”

Inside the building, pro-choice advocates lobbied legislators on what they believe is the legal right of poor women to get coverage for abortions, which is currently denied under Medicaid. Federal law prohibits using federal money for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

The bill to have the state pick up the tab – for an estimated $283,000 a year – is being sponsored by Senate President Beth Edmonds. The Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to work the bill this Friday and possibly vote on whether to recommend it to the full Legislature.

At a press conference prior to a public hearing on the bill last Thursday, Edmonds explained why she put the bill forward at a time when money is short.

“I’ve wanted this to happen for a long time. This is about fairness and equity,” Edmonds said. “The constitution protects the right to reproductive choice,” but choice is denied to poor women, who can’t pay for abortions on their own.

Medicaid does pay for birth control, pre-natal care and to deliver a child.

Outside, Rep. Robert Crosthwaite, R-Ellsworth, the assistant minority leader in the House, denounced the bill.

“I have utter disdain for using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions. Let us remember the promise of life, life, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for all.”

While both sides tried to make it about the money, invariably the fault line was between those who believe abortion is murder and those who say it the right of a woman to choose whether to end an unwanted pregnancy. In an often emotional, hours-long hearing on the bill – where one woman prayed the rosary while another snapped pictures of her colleagues testifying – that divide seemed intractable.

One side argued the right to choose can only be protected if a poor woman has money to pay for an abortion. The other side said making the money available will make that choice too easy, or worse, turn the state into an abortion advocate.

“Whenever the state funds a program, it actually promotes it,” said Valerie Flanagan of Brunswick, who testified along with her 20-year-old daughter.

“I was a poor pregnant woman,” she said, living in Massachusetts in 1985, “not prone to making healthy decisions. Fortunately, the state was not there handing me funds for an abortion.”

Instead, she said, the state supported her health care during pregnancy and the cost of delivery, and the result was her daughter, who also testified against the bill.

Dr. Dora Mills, the director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, testified in favor of the bill on behalf of the administration. She said the current system creates an inequity between poor women and those who have the resources or insurance to pay for an abortion. It also can create health problems.

“Poor women with concurrent health issues such as diabetes may be forced to continue an unintended pregnancy, despite the significant and negative impact the pregnancy may cause to the women’s health,” Mills said.

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