Senator Susan Collins of Maine followed the advice of US Capitol Police when she reported an abortion rights message scrawled in chalk on the sidewalk in front of her Bangor home over the weekend, officials said.
“Because Senator Collins periodically gets threatening letters and phone calls, we have been advised by Capitol Police to notify the local police department when there is activity directed at [or] ... around her home,” Collins’s office said in statement Tuesday evening.
The statement included one recent threatening letter that Collins received, as well as audio of a threatening voicemail left at her office.
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The letter said in part that the Angel of Death would visit her home, and the voicemail contained a death threat tied to a vote in Congress.
Officials said Collins over the weekend noticed activity directed toward her outside her Bangor home and followed the guidance of Capitol cops by reporting it to authorities.
The chalk message, written in different colors, said, “Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA -----> vote yes, clean up your mess,” according to a Bangor police report on the matter released Monday. Police said no crime was committed.
The WHPA acronym refers to the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would codify abortion rights into federal law as Democrats mount their response to the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision that would overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
The Senate’s expected to vote on the bill Wednesday, and Collins, a centrist Republican, has voiced opposition to it.
Collins had said she supports abortion rights, but argued that the WHPA fails to protect antiabortion providers from having to perform the procedure.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.