ICYMI: Maine Dems, Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund and Patient Advocates Call Out Collins on Anniversary of Kavanaugh Confirmation

Augusta, Maine - In case you missed it, today - on the anniversary of Susan Collins' decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court - the Maine Democratic Party hosted a press call with Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund and patient advocates, highlighting the consequence of Collins' record backing anti-choice judges, the state of abortion rights and health care in Maine, and the ongoing threats to reproductive freedom.

Watch:

Here are some key moments:

Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson:

• Make no mistake: the overturning of Roe falls squarely on Susan Collins' shoulders after she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh.

• I was one of the thousands of Maine women who called and wrote to Senator Collins begging her to not confirm Kavanaugh. But instead of siding with Mainers, instead of siding with women and instead of listening to her constituents who elected her, she betrayed us.

• Now, the threat of restrictions on women's ability to make their own health care decisions still looms in Maine as states across the country continue to ban abortion and DC politicians try to limit and restrict the use of abortion medication nationwide.

Lisa Margulies, Vice President of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund:

• Let's put it plainly, the Dobbs decision overturning Roe has caused people to die and untold millions more to suffer. It opened the flood gates to attacks across the country that put access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care at risk, and Senator Collins bears significant responsibility for this.

• It's not just in other parts of the country that rights and access to life saving care are threatened. It's here in Maine too. Because as strong as the laws of Maine are in protecting reproductive rights, those rights mean nothing without access to care. Anti-abortion politicians have already succeeded in outlawing abortion in nearly half the country, and now they're using every pathway at their disposal, including hamstringing providers financially to try to ban it in the rest of the country.

• Senator Collins let the people of Maine down with her vote to confirm Kavanaugh, she fundamentally breached our trust that she would safeguard our health, that she would safeguard our Maine values of freedom, dignity, autonomy, health and well being.

Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Jill Duson:

• I went to Planned Parenthood for contraceptive services. I had my first gynecological exam at Planned Parenthood, and it was the professionals providing care at Planned Parenthood who found that I had a serious cervical issue and got me the care I needed to address it.

• Thanks to Susan Collins, Maine people lack the security of federal protections [to reproductive freedom]. Despite the very clear warning signs, Susan Collins put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, where he cast the deciding vote to overturn Roe. Then she voted against legislation that would have restored Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. And she has spent years being a rubber stamp for Trump's anti-choice judges.

• [Collins] has walked back our rights and failed to stand up for Mainers. My years working to protect abortion access in Portland and the entire state of Maine is driven by the memory of seeking reproductive care as a young woman. Just as I have not forgotten that experience, Mainers will not forget Susan Collins' key role in overturning Roe v. Wade, and we will vote accordingly.

Sarah Mahoney, patient advocate from Arrowsic:

• I had an abortion in the early 1980s. [....] It was available, even in Texas, in part because, at the time, federal protections for abortion were in place, thanks to Roe v. Wade.

• [...] I'm lucky enough to have daughters. I'm lucky enough to have granddaughters. And they have fewer rights than I did 40 years ago.

• We didn't get here by accident. It happened because senators like Susan Collins voted to confirm justices, including Brett Kavanaugh.

• I'm really ashamed to say I once voted for [Collins].

Aleisha Reynolds, patient advocate from Portland:

• I remember watching the Brett Kavanaugh nomination process with so much dread. There were pundits and politicians and people around me saying, Roe is settled law, you're overreacting. However, to believe that, you would have had to ignore the ever growing voices on the right calling for the complete reversal of Roe.

• Kavanaugh's confirmation brought to the forefront issues that I, as a woman who has had an abortion and who knows firsthand the trauma of domestic violence, was most worried about. I was watching the erosion of bodily autonomy and the blatant disbelief and disregard of many women's experiences. Susan Collins' vote was the tipping point as she chose to ignore the valid concerns of women.

• [Now] many doctors are afraid to perform medically necessary procedures. Women are losing their fertility and in some cases, their lives. Smaller rural hospitals and facilities are shutting down or limiting services due to lack of funding. This administration has targeted medical facilities who offer abortions, even in states where this is legal - hampering their ability to provide other medical services, such as birth control, cancer screenings and other life saving care. This is an avalanche that began with Susan Collins' vote.

• I am proud of the smart, dedicated women we have in office in the state of Maine and across the nation. Sadly, Susan Collins is not one of those.

• She chose to believe the reassurances of Brett Kavanaugh. She chose to confirm Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court. The consequence of her vote is that young women in America now have fewer rights to their bodies than I did when I had my abortion in 2001. In fact, they have fewer rights than my mother's generation.

• We all deserve better than Senator Collins.

To read more about Collins' extensive record threatening reproductive freedom go to CollinsDoomedRoe.com

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