Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson shared a video on X saying “abortion is healthcare” and promising to protect reproductive rights for Mainers and Americans if he wins a U.S. Senate seat. The former state Senate president blamed Trump-appointed justices backed by Sen. Susan Collins for taking away those rights nationwide, while pointing to the strong abortion access law he helped pass in Maine. The clip quickly pulled in hundreds of replies, with lots of people pushing back on calling abortion healthcare.
In the short campaign video, Jackson is shown saying, “I feel very strongly that abortion is healthcare and that is something every day of the week. I consistently advocated for more access. People should know that they can count on me.”
Jackson’s accompanying post text states that abortion and reproductive care are healthcare, that he will always fight to protect those rights for Mainers and all Americans, and that he “fought for and passed one of the most progressive abortion rights laws in the country” while Trump-appointed, Susan Collins-backed justices rolled back rights nationally.
He adds that he will bring the same fight to D.C. Jackson is a former Maine Senate president who helped sponsor the 2023 law expanding abortion access in the state after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The video is a paid campaign advertisement.
Jackson’s Abortion Rights Message Draws Sharp Pushback
Many users directly challenged his main claim. One popular reply stated, “Abortion is not healthcare. Please don’t throw a water bottle at me for disagreeing with you.”
Others echoed the point with comments like “Killing a child is not healthcare,” “*Murder, you mean murder,” and “Abortion is MURDER!”
Some responses focused on Jackson’s criticism of Susan Collins. One commenter wrote, “SCOTUS sent abortion rights to each state to ban or protect abortion as it sees fit. Susan Collins had nothing to do with it.”
Another pushed back on broader Democratic priorities, saying, “Democrats have spent too long acting as if abortion is the ONLY women’s right that they have to care about,” while listing concerns about women’s prisons, school sports, and locker rooms.
A few replies offered support or questioned the messaging, but the pushback on calling abortion healthcare dominated the early comments.
It remains unclear how much impact the video will have on Jackson’s Senate campaign. The clip continues to circulate as part of the broader online debate over abortion rights in Maine and the upcoming race against Collins.
