The right to decide if and when to start a family is fundamental to our freedom and to who we are as Americans.
It is a deeply personal decision that should not be made by politicians or justices, but by women, doctors, and families. The right to make this private decision was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court on this day in 1973. Today should be the 53rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
But nearly three years ago, a conservative SCOTUS majority appointed by Donald Trump made a devastating decision to overturn Roe, and Americans have been paying the price ever since.
When I was in the Maine Senate, I fought like hell to protect Mainers’ freedoms, including the right to reproductive health care of all kinds. And we didn’t wait for Roe to be overturned to take steps to protect people’s rights — we took action because that’s what Mainers needed and deserved.
I’m deeply proud to have cosponsored and passed some of the strongest and most progressive reproductive health protections anywhere in the country. We blocked efforts to roll back Mainers’ rights and pushed to expand access to abortion, birth control, and prenatal and postpartum care.
Let me say this loud and clear: abortion restrictions do not belong in the great state of Maine — period, plain and simple.
As governor, I will never stop fighting to protect reproductive healthcare and abortion rights for every single Mainer.
As we continue to face relentless attacks on our most fundamental rights, I urge you to keep fighting. We don’t have to sit down and let them win.
You can support access to reproductive care in Maine by supporting Maine Family Planning, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and the Mabel Wadsworth Center in Bangor. You can also support access to care here and across the country through the National Network of Abortion Funds. You can call your representatives, state and federal, to voice your support for reproductive freedom protections. And you can keep talking to your friends, neighbors, and family members about this critical issue.
Thank you for reading and for being a part of this fight.
—Troy Jackson
