Troy Jackson said in a national interview Tuesday that he was wrong to oppose abortion early in his political career, saying conversations with women, doctors and community leaders helped him change his mind.

“I was wrong,” Jackson said on “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. “But I’m very proud of my record over the last decade or more fighting for access across the state.”

Jackson, who was minted as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate on Saturday, is being forced to reckon with his mixed record on reproductive rights as Democrats hammer Republican Sen. Susan Collins for the fall of federal abortion protections.

Collins voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018, despite concerns from abortion advocates that he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. This is the first time Collins is seeking reelection since the court, with Kavanaugh’s support, struck down abortion protections in 2022.

In Portland last month, Collins, 73, stood by her vote for Kavanaugh, saying “I do not regret that vote” — a line that has been used in attack ads.

Jackson is now hoping to contrast his current views on abortion with Collins’ vote. In 2023, as the president of the Maine Senate, he co-sponsored a bill that expanded abortion access. The bill was one of most progressive in the country at the time and allowed women to receive medically necessary abortions prior to birth.

But Jackson, a 58-year-old logger, began his political career as an abortion opponent, having grown up in a Catholic family in the socially conservative St. John’s Valley area of Aroostook County.

Early in his career, Jackson earned perfect scores from the anti-abortion group, Maine’s Right to Life, in 2003 and 2010.

In 2013, Jackson identified himself as anti-abortion in a questionnaire from Project Vote Smart, an independent, nonpartisan research firm. He told the group that abortion should be illegal except in cases of rape and incest, and that public funding should not be used for the procedure.

That same year, Jackson was the only Senate Democrat to vote for a bill that would have required women to receive more information before getting an abortion. He also supported a bill that would have allowed someone to bring a private cause of action against anyone causing the wrongful death of a viable unborn fetus after the 24th week of gestation, with the exception of mothers and healthcare providers performing a legal abortion.

In his “Morning Joe” interview Tuesday, Jackson, who was first elected in 2002, said that early in his career, “I wasn’t really clear on reproductive rights.”

But he said ongoing conversations with women, doctors and advocates helped him realize that abortion was really about access to healthcare.

“That’s been a big issue for me,” Jackson said. “So when I understood, you know, it became clear that abortion access is healthcare, it just — it just changed for me.”

By 2014, Jackson was publicly supporting state funding for reproductive healthcare services, arguing that “birth control and family planning are healthcare decisions made between doctors and patients, not government.”

At the time, Jackson was seeking the Democratic nomination in Maine’s 2nd District — a race he lost by 30 points.

Erin Oberson, a Jackson supporter and co-president of the Maine State Nurses Association, said she believes he genuinely evolved on the issue.

“We welcome Troy Jackson’s evolution because it demonstrates leadership: He listened, changed his mind, plainly acknowledged that he was wrong and then backed those words with action,” Oberson said in a statement provided by the Jackson campaign.

Jackson said Tuesday that he has since received top ratings from Planned Parenthood. He’s also attacked Collins for the loss of abortion rights nationwide.

“When Susan Collins was helping overturn Roe v. Wade,” Jackson said, “here in Maine … I co-sponsored one of the most progressive reproductive rights bills in the country (and) fought incredibly hard for it.”