Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones wants voters to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, pushing a measure that could be on the ballot this fall.

       Flanked by female lawmakers and Planned Parenthood of Maryland leaders, Jones (D-Baltimore County) launched the effort Monday against a backdrop of mounting challenges to the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

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       “This is a fundamental issue of liberty that cannot and should not be chipped away or bargained for,” she said.

       Maryland is part of a wave of Democratic-led states seeking to bolster abortion protections ahead of an impending Supreme Court decision this summer centered on a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks.

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       The possibility Roe v. Wade protections could fall has also prompted Republican lawmakers in more than two dozen states to introduce measures to restrict abortion access.

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       Texas patients are rushing to get abortions before the state’s six-week limit. Clinics are struggling to keep up.

       Maryland adults strongly endorse legal abortion, with 64 percent saying the procedure should be legal in all or most cases. State law guarantees abortion rights until a fetus is viable outside of the womb, though the procedure can be performed later in pregnancy if the mother’s health is in jeopardy or if there is a fetal anomaly.

       Jones’s proposed amendment would go further and promise “the fundamental right to reproductive liberty” and prohibit state laws from abridging it.

       No state constitution in the country protects abortion rights. One state — Vermont — endorsed a ballot initiative last week that will head to voters in November.

       Vermont moves forward on becoming first state to guarantee the right to abortion in its constitution

       Jones’s predecessor attempted to send a constitutional amendment to voters in 2019, but he was blocked by a Senate president unwilling to take up it up for a vote. Leadership in both chambers has since changed, along with the urgency from abortion advocates to strengthen access to the procedure.

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       Jones and others are also pushing legislation to require insurance companies and Medicaid to cover abortion without co-payments or deductibles, a change they say would speed access to the procedure by removing financial barriers.

       Three states forbid co-payments for abortions through private insurers, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates reproductive rights. Several states use state tax dollars to subsidize abortion for women on Medicaid.

       Another bill would expand which medical practitioners can perform the procedure to include physician assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives. Noting that 70 percent of Maryland counties do not have a single abortion provider, Del. Ariana B. Kelly (D-Montgomery) said the expansion was critical to provide abortion services, particularly if demand rises because the procedure is outlawed elsewhere.

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       Republican lawmakers in Maryland have filed about a half-dozen bills seeking to curtail abortion this year. Some bar the procedure outright, require a 24-hour waiting period or restrict certain types of abortions.

       Republican Gov. Larry Hogan personally opposes abortion but has called law on the matter settled in Maryland. The governor has the power to veto proposed laws passed by the legislature, but would have no role in a ballot initiative approved and sent to voters.