While Sen. Susan Collins honors America’s Girl Scouts in a bipartisan resolution she’s been misstepping when it comes to their futures.

It is a wonderful gesture to honor programs that seek to empower girls. However, Sen. Collins’ record doesn’t consistently lay out a path toward a better future for women.

Sen. Collins has voted to confirm Cabinet appointees who aim to thwart women’s right to choose, dismantle equitable public education and upend successful public health policies. She voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified Roe v. Wade. The alternative bill she promoted has not been acted on since February 2023. In the meantime, many states have enacted near-total abortion bans.

Her response to current executive overreaches has been cautious and overly measured, allowing a shockwave of harmful actions to upend progress toward equity for women.

Girls need to see women lead with conviction and strength; to witness how speaking truth to power will help make a better world.

Any honor and support extended to girls is eroded by voting for people and policies that undermine them. Sen. Collins and all our federal lawmakers must “walk the walk” on every vote to ensure that girls grow up into a world that is better for women than it is now.

Elizabeth Moberg
South Portland