Maine GOP candidate ran birthing clinics for migrant families

Jimmy ParkerJune 8, 202612

Bush’s old clinic comments are back in the spotlight

Jonathan Bush, a Republican candidate for governor in Maine, is facing fresh questions after Fox News Digital reviewed old comments he made about a birthing clinic network he helped run in San Diego County. Bush has been seeking President Donald Trump’s endorsement ahead of the June 9 primary, but the discussion has shifted from campaign politics to his past business record. In a 2014 book he co-authored, Bush said the practice served mostly Medi-Cal patients, migrant workers, and low-income families, and he even noted that the clinics used Spanish-language ads on local TV. That is not exactly the kind of detail a campaign wants hanging around like a wet umbrella in a nice lobby.

The business served many migrant and low-income families

According to Bush’s own past remarks, Athena Women’s Health, also known at the time as Athena Health, operated as a large obstetric practice with multiple clinics across San Diego County. Bush said the business helped deliver thousands of babies a year and that its patient mix included migrant laborers and families who often could not pay cash. He also told a podcast audience in 2022 that the company was doing roughly 3,000 births annually at its peak. The key political issue now is not just what the clinics did, but what Bush’s role was and how he describes that role while asking Maine voters to trust him with the governor’s office.

Campaign says Bush is being misrepresented

Bush’s campaign pushed back hard when Fox News Digital asked about the clinic work and the claims being made about immigrants and birth services. Bush said Athenahealth was a software company that provided billing, management, and related services to doctors, and he argued it never provided medical care itself. He also said critics were lying about his record and trying to distract from what he called his success in creating jobs. Bush added that he agrees with President Trump that illegal immigrants should be deported. That makes for a neat political line, but voters may still want to know why old quotes about “all migrants all the time” and a clinic business aimed at migrant workers are now part of this race.

Why the story matters in Maine

This fight is about more than a business history lesson. Bush is running as a Republican in a state where voters tend to notice when a candidate’s past does not match his present message. The resurfaced comments raise obvious questions about how Bush talked about immigration, birth services, and the people his business depended on. The campaign says the clinic claims are wrong, while Bush’s own old words suggest there was real involvement with birthing centers that served many immigrant and low-income women. In politics, the past has a nasty habit of finding a microphone at the worst possible time.

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