BIDDEFORD, Maine — Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Speaker of the Maine House Ryan Fecteau hosted a "Men for Reproductive Rights" rally on Friday in Biddeford.
Community members gathered together to stand up for reproductive rights and say it's not just a women's issue.
"One in five men have been involved in a woman's decision to have an abortion, and... men are equally motivated to protect reproductive rights," Fecteau said during the rally.
His claim is supported by a 2015 and 2017 study from the National Survey of Family Growth.
At the rally, some people shared their personal experiences surrounding abortion services.
For Eli Grober, an advocate from Portland, this hit home.
"Access to safe and legal abortion gave my mom her life back. And years later, safe and legal abortion gave her me because, without safe and legal abortion, I would not be here," Grober said.
Maine GOP spokesman Jason Savage issued a statement in response to the rally on Friday.
"We are focused on helping Mainers concerned with heating their homes and feeding their families — and we wonder whether anyone at today's event addressed the fact that Maine's gender wage gap skyrocketed under Janet Mills' terrible policies," Savage said.