AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Governor Janet Mills says she opposes a referendum that would overturn Maine’s law eliminating religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccinations.

In a Friday radio address, Mills, a Democrat, said she signed the law last year to better protect the health and welfare of people across Maine.

Opponents of the new law gathered enough signatures to put a referendum question on the March 3 ballot in hope of overturning it. They say they oppose what they describe as “Big Pharma” and government overreach while supporting parental rights.

Mills says vaccines work.