There’s a single word that sums up the Maine Republican Party’s abortion strategy for 2024: LIE!
Of course, no GOP candidate would be inept enough to admit that’s the approach they’re taking (except maybe state Rep. Laurel Libby of Auburn, an anti-abortion fanatic). Instead, they use weaselly phrases such as, “We need to find middle ground” (spoiler alert: For those who believe abortion is murder, there is no middle ground) or, “I could live with current state law if we just repeal Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ late-term abortion law” (spoiler alert: They want current law to include either a total ban on the procedure or so many restrictions it effectively makes it impossible to get an abortion in Maine).
The state’s Republicans began testing methods of obscuring their opposition to women controlling their own bodies during the 2022 gubernatorial campaign. The GOP candidate, former governor Paul LePage, was asked during a debate if he’d veto a ban on abortions after 15 weeks if such a bill passed the Legislature. LePage — who has a long record of being anti-abortion, an equally long history of having a fraught relationship with the truth and an uncomfortable awareness of poll numbers showing Maine voters are staunchly pro-choice — tried to dodge this one, but was finally compelled to answer. He reluctantly said, “Yes.”
LePage’s campaign aides immediately went into crisis mode, racing to reassure the religious right that LePage didn’t really mean it. They claimed he made that veto pledge because he was:
- Confused.
- Stupid.
- Lying.
- All of the above.
Didn’t matter. He lost the election by a lot, and abortion was a big reason why.
The latest roster of Republican candidates learned from that disaster. And the lesson they learned is two-fold.
First, if at all possible, don’t mention abortion at all. Talk about the economy, immigration, crime, drugs, and transgender kids sneaking into school restrooms and sneaking their books into school libraries. If the subject of abortion comes up, blame it on Antifa or LGBTQ activists or George Soros, but whatever you do, don’t take a clear stand against it.
Second, if none of that lying by omission works, lie by commission. Claim you don’t want to change the law or you’re seeking that mythical compromise. With a little luck, nobody will find out you’re really anti-abortion until after you’re elected.
For examples of these approaches, look no further than the GOP candidates for Congress.
State Rep. Mike Soboleski of Phillips, who’s running for the 2nd District seat held by Democrat Jared Golden, was endorsed by the anti-abortion Christian Civic League of Maine in 2022 and rewarded their support by voting for every piece of legislation restricting the practice in the last legislative session. But his campaign website for 2024 doesn’t have a single mention of abortion.
Another 2nd District contender, state Rep. Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, took a different approach. In 2022, he claimed he favored leaving existing laws concerning abortion alone. But then he voted against improved access to family planning and Medicaid funding for abortions. Theriault was absent for several other abortion-related roll calls (on purpose?), but did oppose Mills’ bill to expand late-term abortions. Like Soboleski, he makes no reference to any of this in his campaign materials.
In the 1st District, GOP hopeful Andrew Piantidosi, who wants to take on Democratic incumbent Chellie Pingree, has yet to say the word “abortion” in any interviews and it doesn’t appear anywhere in his online profile.
It remains to be seen if this thin screen of bullshit will fool the average voter. But it doesn’t appear to be working with the anti-abortion crowd.
In an e-mail newsletter titled “Let’s Keep Our Allies Accountable on Abortion,” Christian Civic League policy analyst Thomas Keith is blunt about these forms of prevarication. “The politician lies, deceives voters, but inevitably win [sic] more votes from pro-abortion moderates … before switching around and signing abortion restrictions,” Keith writes. “Does that make it good? No, in fact, it almost makes it worse … making it more difficult for an abortion restriction to ‘stick’ if it passes.”
He then added, “These kinds of stunts are exactly how the pro-life movement loses.”
Actually, the pro-life movement loses because those liberal, satanic, cannibalistic voters favor 1) candidates who aren’t liars, and 2) legal abortion. The first may be almost impossible to find, so they settle for the second.
To be fair (just this once), the Maine Republican Party platform has been reasonably consistent on the abortion issue. The proposed 2024 version echoes the language from previous years, saying the GOP believes in “the sanctity of human life — from conception to natural death” (which is another sorta weaselly way of saying they’re against abortion), while also opposing any taxpayer funding of abortions for poor people.
Don’t expect too many Republican candidates to bring that up, but do expect those who do to be less than truthful about whether they support it.
After 15 weeks, any comments e-mailed to aldiamon@herniahill.net will spontaneously abort.
