Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, one of many U.S. Home’s most weak Democrats, is blasting his Republican challenger, state Rep. Austin Theriault, for failing to face up for abortion rights in Maine’s state Home.
Theriault, a former race automotive driver from Fort Kent, instructed the Bangor Each day Information in 2022 that he wouldn’t act to limit abortion rights within the state, however in a questionnaire for the Christian Schooling League within the final election cycle, he stated he supported proscribing abortion. He additionally identifies as “pro-life” and welcomed the June 2022 Supreme Court docket determination overturning Roe v. Wade, which assured a federal proper to abortion.
As soon as in workplace, Theriault voted towards enshrining abortion rights within the state structure, towards one other invoice defending abortion entry within the occasion well being services merge and towards laws increasing abortion rights within the state to incorporate the interval after fetal viability. Beforehand, pregnancies after the twentieth to twenty fourth week vary, when a fetus turns into viable, had been permitted solely to “preserve the life or health of the mother.”
Along with the three no votes, Theriault was absent for votes on profitable payments to strengthen authorized protections for Maine abortion suppliers who serve individuals from states the place it’s unlawful, to require that medical health insurance plans cowl abortions with out cost-sharing and to explicitly forbid Maine municipalities to limit abortion rights. He was not current for votes on quite a lot of Republican-backed anti-abortion measures: proscribing public funding for abortion, barring tele-health choices for prescribing abortion drugs, requiring further counseling and a 48-hour ready interval earlier than abortions, and requiring parental consent for minors in search of an abortion.
Theriault “is hand-picked and backed by House GOP leaders because he’ll rubber-stamp their harmful agenda — including putting government between women and their doctors with an extreme national abortion ban,” Golden stated in a press release to HuffPost. “He praised the overturning of Roe v. Wade, voted against reproductive freedom in the Maine Legislature, and spent the entire Republican Primary telling voters he was the most extreme anti-choice candidate in the race. He’ll run from his record now, but it’s clear whose side he’s on.”
Theriault’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark about Golden’s assault or different points of his document on abortion rights.
Golden, a co-chair of the centrist Blue Canine Caucus who has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District since 2018, is certainly one of 5 Home Democrats in districts the place former President Donald Trump received in 2020.
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Golden has held on partially by demonstrating his willingness to interrupt with get together leaders. He was the only Home Democrat to vote towards the Construct Again Higher Act, a way more bold model of the Inflation Discount Act, the social and local weather coverage invoice that finally turned regulation. And he’s steadfastly refusing to remark on Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential marketing campaign, not to mention endorse her bid.
Golden, whose reelection is vital to Democratic hopes of retaking the bulk, exhibits no such distance from Democratic management’s place on abortion rights. Almost two-thirds of Maine residents help abortion being authorized in “all or most cases,” in response to a Pew Analysis survey carried out from 2007 to 2014.
Although charges of help for abortion rights could be considerably decrease in Maine’s extra conservative 2nd District, Golden’s marketing campaign confirmed it has carried out polling on the subject. The marketing campaign didn’t share the outcomes of that polling information, however Golden plans to give attention to abortion rights in paid communication ― the sort of determination that’s nearly all the time the results of robust opinion testing.
Golden’s determination nonetheless speaks to only how a lot the contours of the abortion debate have shifted to the left, each contained in the Democratic Social gathering and among the many broader public.
The final Democrat to symbolize the district, Mike Michaud, started his tenure in 2003 as an abortion rights opponent. By the point Michaud launched a failed bid for governor in 2014, he had develop into an abortion rights supporter, profitable him the endorsement of Deliberate Parenthood and NARAL Professional-Alternative America, the group now often known as Reproductive Freedom for All.
In June, state Rep. Bruce White of Waterville misplaced his Democratic major to Cassie Julia, who argued he was insufficiently supportive of abortion rights. White voted towards all however one of many main pro-abortion rights payments on this previous legislative session but in addition towards all the anti-abortion payments for which Theriault was absent.
Consequently, White acquired a barely increased rating from Deliberate Parenthood Motion Fund Maine than did Theriault, who bought 0% on the group’s legislative scorecard.
