AUGUSTA — Gov. Janet Mills pledged to fight against any federal efforts to restrict women’s ability to access abortions on Tuesday during an event marking the 46th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

“If they want to come after the critical services for Maine people, they are going to have to get through me first as governor,” Mills said to loud cheers from dozens of reproductive rights activists gathered at the State House.

Appearing alongside House Speaker Sara Gideon and other lawmakers, Mills said last year’s appointment of conservative Justice Brent Kavanaugh changes the ideological balance of the Supreme Court “and presents one of the most serious risks to safe and legal abortions that we have seen in decades.”

Mills, a Democrat and Maine’s first woman governor, said she believes that states will have to serve as “the backstop” against efforts by the Trump administration or Republicans in Congress to restrict abortion.

“The struggle is far from over,” Mills said. “The forces that would undermine or rollback or outright eliminate your right to use birth control and to obtain safe and legal abortions are more powerful today than they have been in decades.”

Tuesday’s event at the Maine State House, which was organized by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, was one of many planned around the country to commemorate the Jan. 22, 1973, decision that declared women have constitutional right to safe abortions. The Roe v. Wade decision did nothing to end the debate over abortion, however, as opponents and defenders continue to battle in state houses and court houses around the country over when and how the medical procedure should be permitted as well as how to pay for it.

Gideon, a Freeport Democrat, said “systematic” attempts to roll back women’s rights and de-fund Planned Parenthood in Washington is about more than just abortion.

“It’s about men in Washington trying to make decisions about our bodies and about our lives, not their own bodies,” Gideon said. “In 2018, women made history and were elected at record numbers to Congress. But can you imagine if there were 408 female members of Congress and 127 male members in Congress? Would these conversations be taking place? I don’t think so either.”

Gideon, who is mulling a potential challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins next year, pointed out that women now outnumber men in the Democratic House caucus in the Maine Legislature. So Gideon said the conversation in the Maine House and Senate – both of which are controlled by Democrats – will not be about “holding the line” but about moving forward by debating such issues as paid family leave, paid sick days, health care, sexual harassment and other issues that pose burdens on women and families.

“We are going to do things that actually make health care and family planning more accessible and more available to people every day,” Gideon said.