AUGUSTA, Maine — As Maine's legislative session winds down in its final week, lawmakers jockeyed to have their priorities heard Tuesday. One such bill covered reproductive care funding.
LD 1478, An Act to Improve Women's Health and Economic Security by Funding Family Planning Services, would set aside at least $3 million in state general funds each year for family planning resources, like a new mobile clinic run by Maine Family Planning (MFP).
The organization parked the clinic, which is about the size of a full-scale RV at 100 square feet, in a parking lot next to the state house Tuesday and offered tours of the spaces.
Maine Family Planning CEO George Hill said they get their funding from federal Title X dollars, which he said had become stagnant for a full decade, forcing some of their rural brick-and-mortar offices to open only one day per week.
The federal funding, he argued, is used for things like STD screening and treatment, contraception access, and pregnancy testing. The potential boost from the state bill would allow them to bring the mobile clinic to more rural communities, offering care to Maine's most vulnerable populations.
"Folks who have been treated badly by the health care system," Hill explained. "They've been stigmatized. Folks who experience opioid use disorder. Folks who are without housing."
Proponents of the bill have said abortion care is not included in the funding. But Republicans like Rep. Michael Lemelin, who represents Chelsea, said they weren’t convinced.
"We don't believe them and wouldn't even if they put it in writing," Lemelin said, speaking on behalf of his GOP colleagues. "However, regardless, let's say it was off the table, we still feel Planned Parenthood should fund it through their billions or private funding."
Lemelin was recently reprimanded over comments he made last week during a debate over a bill that would protect health care workers who provide abortion and gender-affirming care from out-of-state lawsuits.
Lemelin said during the debate that the mass shooting last October in Lewiston, which claimed 18 lives, and recent storms were God’s revenge for “immoral” laws adopted by legislators, and he described the shield bill as "inspired by Lucifer himself." Another lawmaker, Rep. Shelley Rudnicki of Fairfield, announced she agreed with Lemelin’s remarks.
Lemelin and Rudnicki were censured over the remarks.
House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross told Lemelin in a letter the following morning that the claims were "extremely offensive and intentionally harmful to the victims and the families of the Lewiston tragedy, the House of Representatives, and the people of Maine."
Lemelin and Rudnicki both delivered brief, identical apologies on the House floor, allowing them to resume their ability to speak and vote.
While in favor of abortion care access, Hill said instead of that one area of care, this funding would mean his new rolling clinic could reach more Mainers for other critical, potentially life-saving care they might otherwise not get.