Shocked but not surprised, advocates say they will continue to fight for Mainers’ abortion rights

Maine lawmakers and advocates pledged their support to uphold abortion access after a draft decision made public late Monday suggested that the U.S. Supreme Court was prepared to overturn federally protected abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

The document, written by Justice Samuel Alito, appears to be the majority decision of the court in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in favor of Mississippi, which in 2018 enacted a law that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The ruling would overturn Roe v. Wade and end nearly 50 years of federally protected abortion rights.

“Seeing what (Alito) had to say was pretty painful and pretty, pretty infuriating,” George Hill, the president and CEO of Augusta-based Maine Family Planning, said in an interview Tuesday.

A crowd in Portland's Congress Square Park rallies Tuesday as part of a nationwide event supporting abortion rights Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Maine Family Planning has 18 clinics statewide, including locations in Lewiston, Farmington, Norway and Rumford.

“We’re going to continue to provide abortion care in Maine and access will continue to be available in Maine, no matter what these justices do,” he said.

The Lewiston clinic is “by far” the largest site, serving about 1,300 patients a year, Hill said.

The Supreme Court’s decision was shocking but not surprising, he said, and it’s something the organization has been preparing for.

Maine Family Planning serves more than 20,000 patients annually between its 18 clinics and a number of partner organizations. The vast majority of those patients come to the clinics for oral birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing.

Besides Maine Family Planning, the only other community health centers in the Lewiston-Auburn area are run by Community Clinical Services, which includes B Street Health Clinic in Lewiston.

CCS is affiliated with St. Mary’s Health System, which runs St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.

St. Mary’s, along with St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, are members of Covenant Health, a Catholic health care network based in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. St. Mary’s does not provide abortions or other types of contraceptive care, such as birth control, spokesperson Steve Costello confirmed Tuesday.

Lewiston-Auburn is “a high need area,” for sexual and reproductive health care, Hill said.

A spokesperson for Central Maine Medical Center’s parent company, Central Maine Healthcare, did not respond to a request for comment.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, Nicole Clegg, Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund’s senior vice president of public affairs, said that it is first “important to remember that abortion is safe and legal in our country today.”

“But it does confirm what we’ve been concerned about with this Supreme Court decision, that we would be facing the overturning or significant loss of access to abortion rights across our country.”

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England operates four health centers in southern Maine.

Clegg said that this decision would have a “dramatic impact on people across the country and for providers like us here in Maine,” who could potentially see a large influx of people seeking abortion services from other parts of the country where abortion is not as easily accessible, if at all.

“Ideally” people wouldn’t be traveling as far as Texas, for example, to Maine, which would make it easier for Planned Parenthood to connect people to services closer to their homes, Clegg said.

“But when you’re talking about something of the magnitude that we’re talking about where it could be half of the country,” that already have or could pass restrictive abortion laws, “it’s going to be a little hard for us until we’re actually in it to fully appreciate the implications for our health centers.”

While under Maine law, abortion is allowed before viability or if the mother’s health is at risk, both Clegg and Hill warned that that could change depending on who is in an elected office.

“This law means that there won’t be an immediate impact to Maine in regards to access to safe and legal abortion,” Clegg said. “But elections matter. Who sits in Blaine House, who is controlling the House and Senate will determine the future of abortion rights in our state.”

Following the news Monday night, Gov. Janet Mills was quick to issue a statement reiterating her support to keep abortion and other reproductive health care services accessible in Maine.

“I pledge that as long as I am Governor, I will fight with everything I have to protect reproductive rights and to preserve access to reproductive health care in the face of every and any threat to it — whether from politicians in Augusta or Supreme Court Justices in Washington,” Mills said.

Her opponent in the upcoming gubernatorial election, former governor Paul LePage, a Republican, said he would prohibit abortion except in cases of rape, incest or “when the mother’s life is in danger.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, who serves Maine’s second district, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that “as an elected official, I have consistently held and openly shared my pro-choice position with regard to abortion and women’s access to reproductive health care options.”

The Lewiston Democrat said that if this draft decision becomes final, “my position will remain firmly in support of the principles established under Roe.”

Rep. Kathleen Dillingham, a Republican from Oxford and the minority leader, said Tuesday on behalf of House Republicans that if Roe is overturned, abortion rights “then becomes a political question regarding how the people’s elected representatives will proceed,” and called for “respectful debate.”

Until a final decision is made, however, “we should all refrain from speech and actions, based on speculation, that further divide us and inflame passions.”

She continued: “Should SCOTUS strike down Roe v. Wade, it is unlikely that access to abortions in Maine will end, absent state legislative action. Maine elected officials will then be called upon to make personal decisions based on core values and what best reflects the beliefs and desires of those they represent, and the interests of all Mainers.”