Earlier this week, in addition to reminding Mainers who he really is, Paul LePage downplayed the economic importance of abortion rights—claiming that since he is focused on fiscal issues, “I don’t have time for abortion.” He is just the latest Maine Republican to do so, after Maine GOP Chair Demi Kouzounas said abortion “doesn’t mean anything if we can’t afford to buy groceries” and Executive Director Jason Savage said that abortion supporters don’t “want to talk about the issues that people are facing.”
The problem is it just isn’t true—abortion restrictions like the ones pushed by supporters of LePage and the Maine GOP would have significant economic consequences for working Mainers. According to the Maine Center for Economic Policy, “restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the autonomy, health, and economic stability of working people.” Studies in the Washington Post and Axios have confirmed this, showing that women who are denied an abortion become more likely to face financial struggles and fall into poverty.
“Paul LePage and the Maine GOP’s comments minimizing the fiscal impacts of being denied an abortion show they either have no understanding of how abortion restrictions will affect Mainers, or they don’t care,” said Drew Gattine, Chair of the Maine Democratic Party. “No matter what, it shows that they can’t be trusted to be in control of our rights. We must re-elect Governor Mills this November to protect our reproductive and economic freedom.”