Governor Mills Signs Executive Order to Safeguard Reproductive Health Care, Protect Maine Health Care Providers and Patients in Wake of Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade

Governor Janet Mills this afternoon signed an Executive Order to further safeguard access to abortion in Maine and to protect Maine health care providers who provide reproductive health care and their patients in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court?s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

?A woman?s right to choose is just that ? a woman?s, not a politician?s,? said Governor Janet Mills. ?This Executive Order makes clear that access to reproductive health care, and the health care providers who offer it, will be protected by my Administration.?

The Governor?s Executive Order:

• prohibits State agencies from cooperating with another state?s investigation into a person, organization, or health care provider for delivering abortion care in Maine;
• directs State agencies to conduct a review of laws and regulations for barriers to reproductive health care and exercise discretionary authority under the law to remove or minimize those barriers, and, among other things;
• makes clear that the Governor will exercise her authority within the law to decline extradition attempts from other states pursuing criminal charges against a person for receiving or performing abortion care.

A woman?s right to choose is protected under Maine law. Governor Mills has pledged to the people of Maine that, so long as she is Governor, her veto pen ?will stand in the way of any effort to undermine, rollback, or outright eliminate the right to safe and legal abortion in Maine.?

Under Governor Mills? leadership, Maine has not only protected but expanded access to critical reproductive health services. The Governor, in collaboration with the Legislature, enacted a law allowing physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to perform abortions. She also signed legislation to require private and public insurance providers to cover abortion care.

Read the full Executive Order.