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Chalk message supporting abortion rights appears on Susan Collins’ Bangor sidewalk

Sens. Susan Collins spoke at the University of Maine Composites Center on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, saying she plans to look closely at the credentials of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Nick Woodward
/
Maine Public
Sens. Susan Collins spoke at the University of Maine Composites Center on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, saying she plans to look closely at the credentials of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Sen. Susan Collins was confronted with a message supporting abortion rights Saturday night when an unknown person or persons wrote in chalk on the sidewalk outside her West Broadway home in Bangor, prompting a police response.

A pro-abortion chalk message was left outside Sen. Susan Collins’ Bangor home, prompting a police response on Saturday, May 7, 2022.
Andrea LaFlamme via BDN
A pro-abortion chalk message was left outside Sen. Susan Collins’ Bangor home, prompting a police response on Saturday, May 7, 2022.

“Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA —–> vote yes, clean up your mess,” the message read, according to a Bangor police report.

WHPA refers to the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the right to abortion into law and ban restrictions on abortion access.

Bangor police responded to West Broadway at 9:20 p.m. Saturday to investigate a message written in chalk on a sidewalk, Bangor police spokesperson Wade Betters said.

“The message was not overtly threatening,” he said.

The sidewalk message was not visible on Monday afternoon.

“We are grateful to the Bangor police officers and the City public works employee who responded to the defacement of public property in front of our home,” Collins said.

Collins in February voted against advancing the Women’s Health Protection Act to the Senate floor for debate, and it failed to advance. She and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced an opposing bill that would codify Roe v. Wade while still allowing states to restrict abortion care after fetal viability.

Collins was criticized last week for supporting the confirmation of Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch after Politico published a leaked majority opinion draft, which Kavanaugh and Gorsuch had signed onto, that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that guaranteed the right to abortion.

Collins and Sen. Angus King said in the wake of the draft news that they supported abortion rights, but would not support overturning the Senate filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade in federal law. Reproductive rights issues could figure prominently in midterm election campaigns this fall.

Collins voted to confirm Kavanaugh in 2018 after she said he assured her that he respected legal precedents and would not let his personal views on abortion cloud his decisions. She said last week that Kavanaugh and Gorsuch’s support for the court’s draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, which is not a final decision, was “inconsistent” with their previous statements to her.

This story appears through a partnership with the Bangor Daily News.