Voters in states across the country reject anti-abortion rhetoric, affirm support for safe, legal abortion and reproductive rights and freedoms 

(Portland, MAINE) – Voters in states across the country weighed in on candidates and campaigns related to reproductive rights yesterday. Outcomes in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia are consistent with outcomes from elections nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court revoked federal protections for abortion in June 2022: the American people support safe, legal abortion.  

In a rebuke to anti-abortion propaganda and disinformation campaigns, including stigmatizing lies about abortion throughout pregnancy, voters in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia said loudly and clearly that they will not be fooled. 

Ohioans voted to enshrine reproductive health decisions in their state constitution. Voters in Virginia -– currently the most southeastern state in the U.S. with legally protected abortion rights –- cast ballots for a majority Democratic legislature, signaling to Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Republican Party their disapproval of his proposed 15-week abortion ban for that state. Pennsylvanians elected a state supreme court justice who believes in medical science and that abortion should be legal, rejecting the opponent who aims to criminalize abortion, and voters in Kentucky re-elected a pro-reproductive rights governor. 

In Maine, where lawmakers passed a slate of bills to protect and expand access to abortion and related care, including abortion throughout pregnancy, during the most recent legislative session, voters elected a reproductive rights advocate to represent House District 50 beginning in January. Mainers also approved a ballot measure that will require the state to print all sections of the Maine constitution, including portions outlining treaty obligations to Wabanaki Nations. 

Statement from Lisa Margulies, Esq., Vice President of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund

“Voters in red and blue states have once again affirmed their support for reproductive rights and freedoms and rejected attacks and disinformation from anti-abortion politicians.  

Let’s be clear: Every time voters can cast ballots on reproductive rights, reproductive rights win. Ohioans have enshrined the right to reproductive healthcare decisions in their state constitution. Voters in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia showed us that when they have a choice between electing candidates who support reproductive rights and freedoms and those who don’t, voters elect candidates who commit to policies backed by science and compassion. 

We are also proud of Maine today. The printing of Maine’s Constitution in its entirety is critical to a fair and transparent government and is a step in addressing Maine's current and historic racial inequities, the impact of which reverberates throughout the state, including in health outcomes and access to care for the people Planned Parenthood of Northern New England serves.  

We are thrilled that another reproductive rights champion will represent the people of House District 50 in the upcoming legislative session. Representative-elect Sinclair and his colleagues in the Maine legislature know that their constituents in Maine and voters across the country support expanding access to reproductive healthcare and protecting our rights and freedoms.  

We look forward to working with Representative-elect Sinclair and all Maine lawmakers to continue to center the needs of Maine people, of patients and of the providers who care for them, in advocating for policy that protects reproductive liberties and keeps Maine moving forward." 

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Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in Maine. PPNNE has four health centers in Maine and sees more than 12,000 patients a year.