Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap — who is currently running as the Democratic Party nominee in Maine’s 2nd U.S. House District, which is viewed as one of the most competitive of the current midterm cycle — called for abortion and gender reassignment surgeries to be enshrined in the Constitution during a recent virtual town hall.

During the September 22 event, Dunlap was asked by host Erin Oberson about his plans for handling “gender-affirming care” and abortion practices once in congress. “How would you protect access to necessary reproductive healthcare, including gender-affirming care and abortion care,” Oberson asked.

Dunlap replied, “We may have enshrine it in the constitution, in the end of the day.”

The Democrat candidate claimed that such “medical procedures” are “under constant assault” by referencing the Supreme Court’s 2022 abortion ruling, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which allowed states to dictate their own policy on abortion practices. “We have the Dobbs decision which has given states to restrict free rein to these types of very necessary… these are healthcare services,” Dunlap continued.

“And, ya know, there are just too many lessons, too many circumstances, that I think these are decisions that ultimately can only be made by the women involved. By, you know, a woman, her physicians, what the best course of action is. Otherwise, we are prescribing disaster.”

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Maine Democrat Matt Dunlap wants to add gender mutilation surgeries to the Constitution.

Dunlap is completely out of touch with the values of hardworking Mainers. pic.twitter.com/KSle3AAQSU

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 1, 2026

While on the campaign trail, Dunlap has consistently described debate over gender reassignment surgeries for minors as a “distraction” and non-issue. When his Republican opponent, former Governor Paul LePage, backed a petition to separate school sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms by biological sex, Dunlap’s campaign manager called the issue “manufactured” and said LePage was using it to avoid healthcare and cost-of-living debates.

Dunlap has not issued a detailed platform on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries for minors, nor has he publicly opposed Maine’s 2023 law allowing some 16- and 17-year-olds to receive gender-affirming hormone therapy without parental consent.

In a district currently rated as R+4 by the Cook Partisan Voting Index, those positions put Dunlap to the left of the moderate Democrat he hopes to succeed, Jared Golden, on both abortion codification and transgender medical policy.

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