Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of just two supposedly pro-choice Republicans in the Senate, reported an abortion-rights statement written in chalk in front of her home in Bangor on Saturday night.
Officers responded to a call at about 9:20 p.m. Saturday when the message appeared on a public sidewalk on West Broadway. “Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA —> vote yes, clean up your mess.”
This is the “public defacement” of a public sidewalk that Senator Susan Collins thought was worth calling the police for.
Sidewalk chalk. In pastel colors. And she CALLED THE POLICE. pic.twitter.com/bMIGWPDJLp
— Kendall Brown (@kendallybrown) May 10, 2022
The “WHPA” stands for the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would enshrine Roe v. Wade’s right to abortion into federal law. In the aftermath of a leaked draft Supreme Court judgment that might overturn Roe, Senate Democrats scheduled a vote on the bill, which was passed by the House in September.
“The message was not overtly threatening,” Wade Betters, a spokesperson for the Bangor Police told the media. By late Monday the message was gone.
“We are grateful to the Bangor police officers and the city public works employee who responded to the defacement of public property in front of our home,” the senator stated.
This is the sidewalk chalk Susan Collins called the Bangor PD over, it says "Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA → vote yes, clean up your mess"
She called the goddamn cops. Over chalk. She's going to be responsible for murdering women, but this? Too much.https://t.co/9tTen8Hg10 pic.twitter.com/aYYbQN7RdB
— Matthew Cortland #ProAbortionAdoptee (@mattbc) May 10, 2022
“Because Senator Collins periodically gets threatening letters and phone calls, we have been advised by Capitol Police to notify the local police department when there is activity directed at her around her home,” her office said in a statement.
Collins, who calls herself an abortion rights supporter, opposes the Women’s Health Protection Act, claiming that it goes too far since medical providers who object to abortion for moral or religious reasons would be unable to refuse to perform the surgery. She has announced that she will vote no on the bill, which is projected to fail in the Senate without the support of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who has expressed his opposition to it as well.
Susan Collins Called the Police Because Protestors Wrote With Sidewalk Chalk in Front of Her House https://t.co/hduhbSj2f1
— #TuckFrump (@realTuckFrumper) May 12, 2022
Collins supported Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch, three of the five conservative justices who voted in favor of the draft judgment, which would overturn decades of precedent on abortion rights.
“I could not vote for a judge who had demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade because it would indicate a lack of respect for precedent,” she told CBS in 2018, adding that Kavanaugh told her he “views precedent not just as a legal doctrine but as rooted in our Constitution.”
Following the publishing of the draft opinion by Politico last week, Collins chastised Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for supporting the repeal of the right to abortion.
“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins said in a statement.
Susan Collins called the police over sidewalk chalk. The message was NON-threatening and investigators publicly acknowledged that no charges were warranted.
Sounds like misuse of emergency services OR filing a false police report to me. https://t.co/S9FpIdHVHw
— Jason Minnicozzi (@JasonForNC) May 11, 2022
Collins and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who also opposes overturning Roe, have introduced a more moderate bill, the Reproductive Choice Act, which has been criticized by pro-choice organizations and Democrats.
