Does the Maryland law protect babies after viability (when the child is able to survive outside the womb with or without artificial support)?

No. In fact, the law allows abortions after viability if needed to protect the "health" of the mother. "Health" is defined very broadly, to include "distress...associated with the unwanted child,...the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it,...the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood...." Under Maryland law, any abortion--even a late abortion well after viability--performed because the unborn child is "unwanted" is considered a legal abortion provided for "health" reasons.

Does the Maryland law require parental notification before a minor girl has an abortion?

No. Although the law has a "parental notification" clause, the so-called "requirement" is meaningless because Section 20-103(c)(1) gives the abortionist sole and unreviewable discretion to disregard parental rights:

(c)(1) The physician may perform the abortion, without notice to a parent or guardian of a minor if, in the professional judgment of the physician:

(III) Notification would not be in the best interest of the minor.
The law is more accurately called an "abortionist consent law" because it permits the abortionist to decide in any and every instance that the parents of a teenager should be kept in the dark about their daughter's pregnancy and need for guidance.

How does the Maryland law immunize abortionists from civil liability?

In every area of medicine other than abortion, a person in Maryland may sue a doctor who fails to give all the information necessary for the person to give informed consent. This means that the doctor must tell the patient all the risks involved in any surgery or treatment, as well as alternatives to treatment. However, Maryland's abortion law explicitly exempts abortionists from this requirement in Section 20-209(D):

(D) The physician is not liable for civil damages or subject to a criminal penalty for a decision to perform an abortion under this section made in good faith and in the physician's best medical judgment in accordance with accepted standards of medical practice.

This means that a woman who is not given all the information necessary to make an informed decision cannot sue the abortionist afterward, so long as abortionists generally choose not to provide that information (thereby making the omission one of the "accepted standards of medical practice"). She has no legal recourse. The abortionist has been granted immunity.

What does the Maryland law say about health care workers who, because of their religious faith or personal beliefs, refuse to refer patients to abortionists?

On May 14, 1991, an additional bill, H.B. 1217, was signed by Gov. Schaefer to amend both S.B. 162 and the 1968 law. It removes protection from health care workers who conscientiously object to making elective abortion referrals.

Section 20-214(D) of the law specifically subjects health care providers and hospitals to law suits, disciplinary action, or other recriminatory action for refusal to make elective abortion referrals if it is claimed that failure to refer is "the cause of serious long-lasting injury" and is "contrary to the standards of medical care." Under the law, "serious long-lasting injury" means any claimed adverse impact, including "anxiety" or "emotional distress." "Standards of medical care" mean those standards set by abortion providers, whose guidelines call for elective abortion referrals regardless of the moral convictions of other health care professionals.