Maine Governor Janet Mills issued an executive order on Tuesday designed to protect abortion rights.Mills, a Democrat seeking reelection to a second term in November, signed a three-page order that prohibits state employees or agencies from cooperating with any other state’s investigation into a person, organization, or health care provider for delivering or receiving reproductive health services that are legal in Maine.The order precludes the use of any “time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources” in connection with probes pursuing civil or criminal penalties or professional sanctions.The protection includes denying any extradition request by any other state eyeing civil or criminal charges against a person who performs or receives reproductive health care services.The order covers “all medical, surgical, counseling, or referral services” related to “pregnancy, contraception, or the termination of pregnancy.”On June 24, the day the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade, Mills told WMTW she would consider this kind of order, which Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker had issued that day.Mills has also vowed to veto any bills that might cross her desk proposing to roll back abortion rights or access in Maine.In 2019, her first year in office, Mills signed a law passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature to expand the list of medical providers who may legally perform abortions to include qualified nurse practitioners and physician assistants.She also signed a law requiring state-regulated private insurance plans and MaineCare, the state’s version of taxpayer-funded Medicaid health coverage for low-income residents, to pay for abortion care.Maine became the fifth state to codify abortion rights when it adopted the Reproductive Privacy Act in 1993, which allows a woman to obtain an abortion until fetal viability or afterward if the mother’s life is at risk, according to Mills’ order.Mills’ Republican opponent, her predecessor in office, Paul LePage, has declined to specify what, if any, abortion restrictions he would approve, if the state legislature flipped to Republican control and sent him anti-abortion bills.The Maine Republican Party platform calls for ending taxpayer funding for abortion and declares that human life begins at conception.Nicole Clegg, Vice President of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund, applauded the Mills order.Clegg said in a written statement, “This executive order is an important first step since the loss of Roe to ensuring respectful, supported and safe access to abortion in Maine. While Maine’s laws ensure that abortion is legal and accessible, there is still work to be done. We expect Maine’s leaders to do all within their power to protect people’s privacy, safety and access to all aspects of pregnancy care, including abortion.”Clegg said Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, which operates one of the three clinics in Maine that offer abortion services, has seen patients from four of the nine states that have already imposed abortion bans.Clegg said, “We have already witnessed first-hand the harm these bans have placed on our patients, forcing them to travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles for care.”