Collins ignores Mainers, votes to confirm judge who backs “fetal personhood bill” that lays groundwork for criminalizing abortion

Augusta, Maine – Today, Maine Democratic Party spokesperson Tommy Garcia released the following statement on Susan Collins voting to confirm Trump-appointed Joshua D. Dunlap to the U.S Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which includes Maine:

“Susan Collins once again confirmed an anti-choice judge who poses a clear threat to women’s reproductive freedom. Mainers called on Collins to oppose Dunlap’s confirmation, but she ignored them – just like she did when she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.”

Joshua Dunlap advocated for a “fetal personhood bill” in Maine that would have laid the groundwork for criminalizing abortion care.

Here is a list of some of the anti-choice judges Collins has backed in the past few months alone:

• 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 has been widely observed as 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 15-week 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.”

The Maine Democratic Party previously released a video highlighting Susan Collins offering “No Regrets” on her decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. See more about Collins’ role in overturning Roe and her continued backing of anti-abortion judges at CollinsDoomedRoe.com.