Maine GOP Candidate’s Past Business Raises Citizenship Questions

Clear Facts

• Jonathan Bush ran birthing clinics in San Diego that served thousands of migrant women annually, according to his own published account
• Bush admits his clinics actively marketed to migrant workers with Spanish-language TV ads and helped deliver up to 3,300 babies per year
• The Republican candidate is now seeking President Trump’s endorsement while promising to deport illegal immigrants

Jonathan Bush, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maine vying for President Trump’s endorsement ahead of the June 9 primary, previously operated a network of birthing clinics in San Diego County that actively catered to migrant women, a Fox News Digital review found.

“Here we were, the largest obstetric practice in San Diego County and our business was mostly Medi-Cal, the state welfare program, and migrant workers. We needed their business and even appealed to them with Spanish-language ads on local TV,” Bush wrote in his 2014 book Where Does it Hurt?, referring to Athena Women’s Health.

At its height, Athena Health helped deliver thousands of children annually, according to Bush, who opened the network of birthing clinics with business partner Todd Park, who later served as chief technology officer during the Obama administration. Bush recounted the scale of operations during a 2022 podcast appearance.

“We actually owned a birth center. And at the height, we were doing 3,000 babies a year. If you multiplied our monthly run rate, maybe 3,300. So really big, prosperous, not prosperous. A lot of low-income families with very low couldn’t, not on Medicaid, had to pay cash, migrant laborers, all kinds of people,” Bush told the Venture Fizz Podcast.

The resurfaced comments raise serious questions about whether Bush knowingly assisted women who may not have been American citizens in securing U.S. citizenship for their children through birthright citizenship. This comes as he campaigns for the Republican nomination for governor of Maine on a platform that includes deporting illegal immigrants.

When pressed by Fox News Digital about Athena’s work with immigrants, the Bush campaign pushed back, arguing that Athenahealth — the later software company — never offered birthing services and that providing medical services would have been illegal for a healthcare software company.

“To distract from his flailing campaign, 25-year DC lobbyist Bobby Charles continues to lie about my record of creating hundreds of Maine jobs. Ironically, Lobby Charles – who lied about his military service – lobbied for a liberal pro-illegal immigrant, pro-gun control, pro-birthright citizenship California Democrat Attorney General. Here’s the truth without the Lobbyist Lies: athenahealth/Athena Women’s Health provided software, billing, and management services to 116,000 American doctors,” Bush said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“They have never provided any medical services of any kind. And as I’ve said consistently, I agree with President Trump — illegal immigrants should be deported,” added Bush, a first cousin to former President George W. Bush.

While Bush’s statement about Athenahealth not providing medical services is accurate, the earlier failed venture, Athena Health, that Bush was initially involved with for less than two years was indeed operating birthing clinics. Bush’s own writings confirm this distinction.

“Our new company started out with twelve clinics scattered through San Diego County. The six doctors and thirty-five midwives were doing two thousand births a year. The midwives were all Latinas. They were warm and friendly and supportive, just what our business plan called for,” Bush wrote in his 2014 book, referring to Athena Health.

A 2005 profile piece reveals the early days of their main birthing clinic in vivid detail.

“Jonathan Bush and Todd Park sat in their offices in a San Diego birthing clinic in 1997, listening to the urgent and beautiful sounds of a baby’s first gulps of air from the birthing room nearby. The cries were music for the two fresh-faced former Booz Allen Hamilton health-care consultants, 28 and 24, respectively, who had decided they’d learned enough to run a physician’s clinic better and more efficiently than the doctors could,” the article reads.

The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity also describes Bush’s work with Athena as a “birthing clinic in San Diego.”

While it remains unclear what exact portion of clients were migrant women, Bush’s own comments suggest the volume represented a significant share of business. In his book, Bush described the migrant clientele in terms that suggest it dominated their practice.

“‘All migrants all the time.’ It was a laugh line for us, but not a very funny one. This was not the thriving business we envisioned. We were hemorrhaging money,” Bush wrote.

“A lot of low-income families had to pay cash — migrant laborers, all kinds of people,” he continued.

Bush is a healthcare technology entrepreneur best known for co-founding Athenahealth, a cloud-based software and services company marketed to medical practices. He announced his candidacy for governor in October, positioning himself as a disruptor focused on job creation.

“I’ve made my career disrupting the status quo, creating jobs and helping people achieve their American dream,” Bush said in an announcement video.

During his race, he has positioned himself as a Maine-first candidate, promising to make Maine more attractive to businesses and investors by cutting taxes, auditing local government, and increasing energy supplies by tapping into natural gas reserves.

While he has distanced himself from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party on some issues, he recently told Fox News that securing Trump’s endorsement would be valuable for his campaign in what he described as a purple state.

Although he has leaned heavily on his business experience to make his pitch to voters, his top GOP opponent, Bobby Charles, believes his birthing clinic and its pitch to migrant women contradict the pro-America, pro-Maine message he’s pitching now.

“It is not surprising to hear Bush now may also have been involved in facilitating illegal immigration. The contrast couldn’t be clearer. I am a pro-Trump conservative who will remove illegals out of the state and ban sharia law. Jonathan ‘Never Trump,’ Bush simply can’t be trusted to do what most Mainers want,” Charles said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to enroll in insurance programs, prompting them to search out services where they can find lower costs and payment flexibility. Bush’s clinics appear to have filled this niche.

According to Bush, as Athena continued to take on a higher volume of those clients, the business’s financial stability weakened considerably.

“Our popularity worked against us… Pretty soon, most of our remaining clients were indigent. They were either on Medicaid or they had no insurance at all and paid in cash or promised to pay in cash,” Bush wrote in his book.

“I’m probably not giving away anything to tell you that it floundered, and then failed,” he continued.

Maine holds its primary election for governor on Tuesday, June 9.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.