Collins Has Supported Planned Parenthood, but It Won't Endorse Her

Planned Parenthood just broke with one of its longtime Republican allies. The organization's political arm on Monday endorsed Democrat Graham Platner over Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, a notable snub of one of only two GOP senators who back abortion rights, the New York Times reports. National president Alexis McGill Johnson labeled Collins a "fair-weather feminist" in Portland, arguing the senator hasn't taken the "hard" stands needed since the fall of Roe v. Wade: "She is conveniently pro-reproductive freedom when it suits her," McGill Johnson said.

The move spotlights a key fault line in Maine: Democrats angry over Collins' 2018 vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, who later joined the majority that overturned Roe, versus concerns about reports of Platner's behavior toward women. Platner is leaning in, blasting Collins and "establishment Democrats" for failing to lock abortion protections into law; his adviser recently told voters, "There is a massive, massive difference in her being on the ballot at a time that Roe is no longer the law of the land." Collins, who says she still supports abortion rights and does not regret her Kavanaugh vote, argues Roe would have fallen regardless and accuses Planned Parenthood's leadership of growing more partisan.

McGill also criticized Collins' comment that she's "disappointed" in Kavanaugh's vote to overturn Roe, Maine Public reports. "The 26 million women of reproductive age living in states with abortion bans are more than disappointed," she said. "Women waiting in parking lots for sepsis to set in are more than disappointed." Platner, meanwhile, recalled Collins saying that Kavanaugh reassured her Roe was "settled law" and not in danger before he was confirmed, News Center Maine reports. "She either lied to us or she was tricked," he said. Other abortion-rights groups, meanwhile, are putting their money in other state races and haven't yet announced support for Platner.