This Saturday, to celebrate the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Governor Janet Mills will join Planned Parenthood of Northern New England for a Virtual Fireside Chat about the future of abortion in Maine. The anniversary comes as reproductive rights are under attack across the country and the future of Roe remains uncertain. In Maine, abortion rights are on the ballot come November as virulently anti-choice candidate Paul LePage threatens to roll back all the important progress made under Gov. Mills.
Gov. Mills has been recognized both in Maine and nationally as a champion for reproductive rights. By expanding health care access, allowing more qualified practitioners to perform abortions, and requiring MaineCare to cover the procedure, her administration has made reproductive rights more accessible for Maine people at a time when many other states are restricting access.
During his eight years as Governor, Paul LePage obstructed access to reproductive health care, using funding cuts and refusing to uphold the will of the voters to expand MaineCare to make abortions and other kinds of reproductive health care more difficult to access. His support for overturning Roe v. Wade and attendance at anti-abortion rallies make it clear that if given the chance in a third term, he could go even further in his efforts to strip Mainers of their reproductive rights.
“Right now, Paul LePage represents a greater threat to reproductive rights in Maine than any since Roe v. Wade was decided 49 years ago,” said Drew Gattine, Chair of the Maine Democratic Party. “If elected in a post-Roe world, he will not just undo all the progress Governor Mills has made to safeguard Mainers’ access to abortions–he will try to drag us back to a time when Mainers feared legal retribution just for receiving a basic, often life-saving medical procedure.”
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