About a thousand residents attended the People's March in Portland on Saturday and rallied at City Hall as speakers called for unity and collective action with the Trump Administration poised to take over.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said one of its top priorities is to protect reproductive rights and safe access to abortion.
CEO Nicole Clegg said the first Trump administration tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood.
"I think what has continued to be proven by voters across the country since Roe fell, is that attacks on sexual and reproductive healthcare and efforts to limit Planned Parenthood are deeply unpopular," Clegg said. "My hope would be that members of Congress and members of the Trump administration would think twice before they try to take away these rights again."
Eighty percent of the care Planned Parenthood provides in Maine is preventive, such as disease testing and birth control, according to Clegg.
She said Maine lawmakers this session will consider funding Planned Parenthood to support the statewide family planning program. Clegg said providers treat patients regardless of their ability to pay, and that Medicaid reimbursements don't cover the true cost of procedures.
Bre Danvers-Kidman, Executive Director of Maine Transnet, called for action to ensure equality for all.
"Ask the government to support policies that serve collective liberation. But also speak up when your co-worker says something racist. Demand just policies but also build justice and equity with your own hands, because that's what we can count on," Danvers-Kidman said.
Portland City Councilor April Fournier, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, said defending the rights of Black, Indigenous, People of Color in Maine is one of her priorities.
"We will continue to fight to ensure that we all have access to housing, education and healthcare because these things should be the right for every human on this planet," Fournier said.
Nuna Gleason operates the Maine Afro Yoga Project in South Portland to help immigrants and other marginalized groups rebuild their lives and heal after experiencing trauma.
"As we march today, remember this. Every step is a declaration, a declaration that we are here, we belong, and we are free," Gleason said. "We are powerful. We are resilient. And we rise together."
People's Marches were held across the country Saturday for citizens to rally and speak out on local and national issues.