Collins’ Kavanaugh vote should rule her out of the running | Letter

A retired U.S. Air Force officer from Lewiston, N.Y., has added her voice to the intensifying debate over reproductive health care in Maine’s 2026 Senate race, publishing a letter to the editor that criticizes incumbent Senator Susan Collins for her 2018 vote confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and applauds challenger Graham Platner’s pledge to guarantee full health‑care access for every American.

Maureen P. Phillips, who served as a captain in both the active‑duty Air Force and the Air National Guard, wrote the commentary that appeared in the March 2026 edition of Maine Matters, a political supplement of the Portland Press Herald. In the letter, Phillips contends that Collins’s support for Kavanaugh imperiled women’s legal autonomy and calls the senator’s record “a threat to the health and safety of women of childbearing age.”

“Someone who supports American families and the children from which they rise in our society ought reasonably to want full and unfettered health‑care access for all American women of childbearing age,” Phillips wrote.

She goes on to invoke the era when Roe v. Wade was decided, noting that Collins was 20 years old at the time and would have understood the significance of that ruling. “Do we think she never feared an unplanned pregnancy? She knew then that we had finally been given protected, full legal autonomy over our own bodies,” the letter states.

Phillips reserves the strongest praise for Graham Platner, a candidate who has made expanded health‑care coverage a centerpiece of his campaign. “Graham Platner’s promise to fight for full access to health care for every American is exactly what we need,” she wrote, adding, “And, as he says, we’re just getting started.”

The letter arrives as Collins faces a closely watched re‑election battle in 2026. Collins, a moderate Republican, has historically been a swing vote in the Senate, and her stance on abortion rights has drawn fire from both sides of the aisle since her vote to confirm Kavanaugh, a justice whose appointment reshaped the high court’s jurisprudence on reproductive issues.

Platner, a former health‑policy adviser who entered the Senate race earlier this year, has called for legislation that would guarantee contraception coverage, expand Medicaid eligibility and codify Roe‑style protections into federal law. In campaign appearances across Maine, he has argued that health‑care decisions should not be left to “political whims” and has pledged to work with anyone willing to advance those goals.

In a brief statement to Maine News Now, Collins’s office defended her record, pointing to her co‑sponsorship of bills that promote maternal health and her past votes on issues such as funding for community health centers. The senator’s communications director said Collins “remains committed to ensuring that women have access to the care they need, while also respecting the rule of law.”

Platner’s campaign responded to the letter by saying it “reinforces what we’re hearing from voters across Maine—people want a senator who will fight every day for their health and their rights, not one who flips based on political convenience.”

The exchange underscores the high stakes surrounding health‑care policy in the upcoming election. With polls showing a narrow majority of Maine voters favoring stronger legal protections for abortion, both campaigns are ramping up outreach efforts, focusing on women’s health, insurance coverage and the potential ripple effects of a future Supreme Court ruling.

Phillips’s letter, while personal in tone, reflects a broader frustration among some constituents who view Collins’s Kavanaugh vote as a betrayal of the reproductive freedoms secured decades ago. As the 2026 campaign season progresses, such commentaries are likely to become a recurring theme in the public debate over the direction of the Senate and the nation’s health‑care landscape.