Advocates line the hallway leading to the House of Representatives chamber in June 2023, holding signs for and against a bill that would expand abortion access in Maine. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal, file

Abortion providers Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Maine Family Planning will ask the Maine Legislature for $6 million in state funding, partly because the groups are anticipating federal funding cuts by the Trump administration.

“With the incoming Trump administration this funding is now absolutely critical,” said Lisa Margulies, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.

The $6 million would not pay for abortions, but would help pay for other services the health care agencies provide, such as primary care, screenings and care for sexually-transmitted infections, birth control and other care. Planned Parenthood operates four clinics in Maine, including in Portland, Sanford, Biddeford and Topsham, while Maine Family Planning operates 18 clinics across the state.

Legislation to provide the funding is expected to be proposed by state Sen. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, similar to a $3.4 million measure that failed in the Legislature in 2024. That bill was introduced in 2023, passed the Senate in 2024, but failed to get a House vote in the final days of the 2024 session.

During Trump’s first term, from 2017-20, the administration imposed a so-called gag rule on abortion providers as a prerequisite to receiving federal Title X dollars. The rule banned federally funded providers from making abortion referrals. Rather than comply with the rule, Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning gave up Title X funding. The Biden administration eliminated the gag rule, restoring millions in funding for the nonprofit agencies.

Trump has vowed not to sign a national abortion ban, but Margulies said the gag rule and other potential measures could harm health care access for Mainers who use their services. For instance, the Trump administration could make abortion medication harder to obtain, although Trump also said in campaign interviews that he would not constrict supply of the medication.

With Republicans in control of Congress and the executive branch starting next month, abortion rights advocates have said they are preparing for a hostile federal government. In the weeks after Trump won, abortion providers saw a surge in patients seeking long-acting contraception.

George Hill, president and CEO of Maine Family Planning, said federal funding is “unstable” and the state money is needed to ensure health care access, especially in rural areas, is maintained.

“Access is fairly limited now,” Hill said. “We’d be looking at some of our smaller, more rural sites being closed, consolidating services. We are not just providing sexual and reproductive heath care, in many cases we are providing our patients with the only medical advice and care that they receive.”

Margulies said money is needed to maintain services because “we’ve had generations of undervaluing this care, while there’s been increasing costs to deliver the care.”

Maine Family Planning had about $11 million in expenditures in 2023, while Planned Parenthood of Northern New England spent about $31 million that same year, according to public financial filings for the nonprofits. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England includes services in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Nick Adolphsen, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, criticized the abortion providers and their allies for spending money nationwide to influence elections and now, after losing, seeking public funding to cover the costs.

“They see the writing on the wall: public opinion is turning against them, and with new leadership heading to the White House, they’re scrambling to protect their turf.”

It’s not clear if the funding has a better chance of being approved in the coming year. Democrats still have majorities in both chambers of the Maine Legislature, but their margins have shrunk.

Gov. Janet Mills did not weigh in on the funding bill that failed to get across the finish line in the 2024 session, but Mills has supported abortion rights, and pushed for and signed into law bills that expanded abortion access in Maine even as other states have restricted access or banned abortion. Her office did not respond to messages Wednesday asking whether she would support the upcoming bill.

Thirteen states have banned abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected abortion rights nationally, in 2022.