Judicial Nominee Equated Support for Abortion Rights to Advocating for Murder

Augusta, ME – Today, Susan Collins voted for a lifetime judicial appointment for yet another of Trump’s right-wing, anti-abortion judges. Matthew Byrne is a staunch opponent of abortion rights who has characterized support for abortion rights as akin to advocating for murder and objected to dismissing a case defending Ohio’s draconian ban on abortion.

Following Collins’ vote, Maine Democratic Party spokesperson Misha Linnehan released the following statement:

“Susan Collins confirmed the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and said herself she still doesn’t regret it. Now, she’s falling in line with Trump once again to put a fanatical anti-abortion judicial nominee on the bench for life. Today’s vote shows she’s not going to stand up for Maine women any time soon.”

Matthew Byrne has a long record of opposing abortion rights:

• Byrne has “several affiliations with anti-abortion groups,” including Ohio Right to Life, Cincinnati Right to Life, Warren County Right to Life, the Center for Christian Virtue, and the Federalist Society. He once touted being the only candidate to be endorsed by the Cincinnati Right to Life PAC.

• In 2023, Byrne was the lone judge to dissent in an Ohio Supreme Court Ruling that upheld a hold on Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban.

• In 2020, Byrne said that he opposed abortion for any reason other than to protect the life of the mother, without any exceptions for rape or incest.

• In an opinion piece, he once characterized support for abortion rights and access as akin to advocating for murder.

See Collins’ record below and more at CollinsDoomedRoe.com

Susan Collins is responsible for abortion bans nationwide, after she cast the decisive vote for the judges that overturned Roe v. Wade and voted against a bill to restore it.

• Collins voted for the confirmations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justices – who were later deciding votes to overturn Roe v Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

• Collins refused to stand up for Maine women when she voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have restored Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.

Collins has a long history of supporting anti-choice judges who are actively stripping rights away from women.

• Collins voted to confirm a Trump-appointed judge who has argued that Mifepristone should be restricted and its FDA approval should be invalidated – even though the drug has been safely used under FDA approval for 23 years.

• Collins voted to confirm multiple Trump-appointed judges who later upheld statewide abortion bans in Texas and Idaho.

Collins has continued to “rubber stamp” Trump-appointed anti-choice judges who have advocated for and defended near-total abortion bans in states. In the past few months alone Collins confirmed:

• Whitney Hermandorfer to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, who was lead counsel in a case defending Tennessee’s total abortion ban.

• Maria Lanahan to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, who defended Missouri’s near-total abortion ban, and helped author and argue Missouri’s complaint seeking to restrict the use and access to mifepristone, a common medication abortion pill.

• Jennifer Mascott to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who urged the court to overturn Roe and return it to the “dustbin of history,” then praised the Dobbs ruling, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee defending the Court’s decision to leave in place Texas’ extreme abortion ban.

• William Mercer to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, who “has repeatedly supported anti-abortion bills.”

• Chad Meredith to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, who is staunchly anti-abortion and has even defended abortion restrictions in Kentucky.

• Jordan Pratt to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, who authored an amicus brief in support of Florida’s abortion ban where he called abortion “barbaric.”

• Rebecca Taibleson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, who testified that she believed the three-year-old Dobbs decision that gutted federal protections to abortion was “controlling precedent and settled law.” In addition to clerking for Brett Kavanaugh, Tabileson testified in front of the Senate to defend Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings.

• Edmund LaCour, Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, who as solicitor general for Alabama, defended an Alabama abortion ban that makes no exceptions for rape or incest, and wrote that life begins at conception. LaCour also argued landmark reproductive rights cases, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, were “illegitimate.”

• Joshua Dunlap to the U.S Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which includes Maine, who advocated for a “fetal personhood bill” in Maine that would have laid the groundwork for criminalizing abortion care.

• Eric Tung to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who reportedly has “close ties to the anti-abortion movement,” “worked extensively with the architect of Texas’ heartbeat bill” and testified during his confirmation hearing he did not believe there was not “a constitutional right to abortion or same-sex marriage.

• David Bragdon to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, who compared abortion to murder and said women “must face the consequences” of unintended pregnancy.

• Robert Chamberlin to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, who sponsored numerous anti-abortion laws while serving in the Mississippi state legislature, including one that bans abortion at conception.

• William Crain to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who campaigned on an anti-abortion platform when he ran for the Louisiana Supreme Court. While serving on the court in 2022, Crain voted to keep Louisiana’s strict abortion ban in effect, which includes no exceptions for rape or incest.
  

• Katie Lane to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, who previously served as counsel in a case seeking to block abortion care in Guam. As Montana’s assistant solicitor general, she also urged the Montana Supreme Court to overturn a 23-year-old precedent protecting the constitutional right to abortion in the state.