The Planned Parenthood Action Fund on Tuesday endorsed Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary to take on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in the fall.

The endorsement comes at a pivotal moment for the 78-year-old Mills, who is trailing by double digits in most independent polling against political newcomer Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer from Sullivan.

The group said it is supporting Mills because of her efforts to protect and expand reproductive health care after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned national abortion protections that had been in place for five decades. She also pushed for $7.25 million in funding to reproductive health care providers in the current budget to offset federal cuts.

In their endorsement, Planned Parenthood officials cited Mills’ efforts to expand access to contraceptives and to protect reproductive and gender-affirming health care providers from being prosecuted by other states.

“Governor Janet Mills is a champion for reproductive freedom and her leadership has made Maine one of the safest places for reproductive rights,” President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a written statement.

McGill Johnson called out Collins for casting a key — and arguably decisive — vote in 2018 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, tipping the balance of power on the court to conservatives. The conservative court eventually overturned Roe in 2022.

Collins justified her vote at the time by saying Kavanaugh assured her that he respected the precedent set by Roe. He later sided with the conservative majority to overturn it.

McGill Johnson said Mills would be able to push back against Republican attacks with “experience, courage, and an unwavering commitment.”

Mills said she was “deeply honored to earn the support” of Planned Parenthood.

“I have fought hard to defend these core freedoms here in Maine, but that work is far from over,” Mills said. “Now that Roe has been overturned because of Susan Collins’ decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are hellbent on restricting reproductive health care even more.”

The endorsement may inject some energy into the flagging Mills campaign, which trails Platner in independent polling by an average of 22 points, according to RealClear Polling.

She also lags in fundraising behind Platner, who continues to blanket the airwaves with ads, while Mills has stopped running them.

Platner’s campaign on Tuesday launched a new ad featuring state Rep. Valli Geiger, a Rockland Democrat who credited Platner for putting pressure on Mills and state lawmakers to enact a bill to track rape kits.

Maine is one of the few states without such a system.

Legislation to fund the kit tracking was included in a packet of about three dozen bills in 2024 sent to Mills on the final day of the session that’s usually reserved for trying to overturn vetoes.

Mills did not act on the package because of constitutional concerns.

“Signing any of these bills, no matter how much I may see value in some of them, would send the message that the Legislature is allowed to flout its own self-imposed and Constitutionally-imposed limitations,” Mills said in a letter to lawmakers at the time.

At the time, Geiger told a TV station that the bill failed because “the Senate and House failed to do the work as it’s usually done.” But at a Platner press conference last month, she blamed Mills for vetoing it.

This year, Mills included funding for the program in her supplemental budget, which she signed Monday.

The flurry of activity this week illustrates how both campaigns are battling for the support of women, a key demographic for Democrats.

Mills had previously run advertisements highlighting Platner’s online comments dismissing sexual assault and blaming victims. Those comments, among others, were deleted before he ran for Senate.

Platner has apologized for the comments, saying they don’t reflect who he is today.