Gov. Janet Mills vowed to protect abortion rights in Maine after the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision on Friday overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and leaving the question of abortion up to the states.
The majority decision from five justices in a case involving a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi will lead abortion to be outlawed in roughly half of U.S. states. The right to an abortion has been codified in Maine law since 1994, although conservatives could look to change that if they take back control of state government.
Mills’ Republican opponent, former Gov. Paul LePage did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Friday about the decision or his approach to abortion if he is elected in November. LePage, who is facing Mills alongside independent Sam Hunkler later this year, attended anti-abortion rights rallies while serving as governor, but has declined to specify during this campaign how he would consider legislation on the issue if he returned office.
Other Republicans have suggested they would start by looking to reel back the expansion of abortion rights in Maine championed by Mills, who signed laws allowing Medicaid to cover the procedure and allowing more mid-level health care practitioners to perform it. Democrats could look to capitalize on that distinction ahead of the 2022 midterms, as most Maine residents favor legal abortion.
In a statement released shortly after the Supreme Court decision dropped on Friday, Mills said the decision would not stop abortion but instead make the procedure “less safe” and “jeopardize the lives of women across the nation.”
“In Maine, I will defend the right to reproductive health care with everything I have, and I pledge to the people of Maine that, so long as I am Governor, my veto pen will stand in the way of any effort to undermine, rollback, or outright eliminate the right to safe and legal abortion in Maine,” she said.
