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Checked against the record · Maine Senate 2026

Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

Matches stated record claim. She was an original cosponsor of Kaine's 2022 and 2023 bills to enact Roe's main holdings and sponsored her own in 2022; none got a committee or floor vote.

Susan M. Collins

Abortion: the bill to write Roe into law

Matches stated record claim

What they say

In the October 8 debate she said she would vote for a bill creating federal protections for abortion access, that she wrote such a bill with Senator Tim Kaine to codify Roe v. Wade nationwide, and that it never reached the Senate floor.

What the record shows ·

In August 2022 and again in February 2023, Kaine introduced the Reproductive Freedom for All Act with Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Kyrsten Sinema as its original cosponsors; he told the Senate it would enact the essential holdings of Roe v. Wade. In February 2022 she had sponsored her own bill with the same aim, the Reproductive Choice Act. All three bills went to the Judiciary Committee and got no vote. In 2022 she twice voted against taking up the Women's Health Protection Act, which she said went far beyond codifying Roe.

Limit: Congress lists Kaine as the sponsor and her as one of three original cosponsors; who drafted the text is not on the record. The record does not say why the bills never got a vote.

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Sources7 source records

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  1. WMTW debate, October 8: Collins on a bill to codify Roe v. Wade (44:36)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHWVvlZCRXA&t=2676s

    WMTW-TV · Published Oct 8, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    44:36-45:17. Described from the host's YouTube captions; no second transcript was found, so the words are not quoted.

    candidate statement

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

  2. S. 4688, Reproductive Freedom for All Act, 117th Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4688

    Congress.gov · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    Introduced August 1, 2022 by Tim Kaine for himself, Lisa Murkowski, Kyrsten Sinema and Collins; referred to the Judiciary Committee and not acted on.

    official legislative record

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

  3. Introductory statement on S. 4688, Congressional Record, August 1, 2022https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2022-08-01/html/CREC-2022-08-01-pt1-PgS3806-2.htm

    U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Aug 1, 2022 · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    Kaine says he, Murkowski, Sinema and Collins are introducing the bill to enact the essential holdings of Roe v. Wade and other cases.

    official legislative record

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

  4. S. 317, Reproductive Freedom for All Act, 118th Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/317

    Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Introduced February 9, 2023 by Tim Kaine for himself, Lisa Murkowski, Kyrsten Sinema and Collins; referred to the Judiciary Committee and not acted on.

    official legislative record

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

  5. S. 3713, Reproductive Choice Act, 117th Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3713

    Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Introduced February 28, 2022 by Collins, with Lisa Murkowski as the only cosponsor; referred to the Judiciary Committee and not acted on. Its title: to codify the essential holdings of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. That August she was also an original cosponsor of Tim Kaine's S. 4688, the first Reproductive Freedom for All Act.

    official legislative record

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

  6. Introducing the Reproductive Choice Act, Congressional Record, February 28, 2022https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2022-02-28/html/CREC-2022-02-28-pt1-PgS838-4.htm

    U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Feb 28, 2022 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Her floor statement introducing S. 3713. She says it would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade and Casey, and that the Women's Health Protection Act then before the Senate went further than that.

    official legislative record

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?

  7. Senate roll call votes 65 and 170, 117th Congress, 2nd sessionhttps://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_117_2.htm

    U.S. Senate · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    Cloture votes on taking up the Women's Health Protection Act: vote 65, February 28, 2022 (H.R. 3755), failed 46 to 48; vote 170, May 11, 2022 (S. 4132), failed 49 to 51. Collins Nay on both.

    official legislative record

    For: Did Susan Collins write a bill with Tim Kaine to put Roe v. Wade into law?