AUGUSTA — For William Kenniston and Christine LaPointe, the frigid temperature Saturday was not enough to keep them away from the Maine State House.

Kenniston and Lapointe, from Livermore Falls, joined about 200 people for the Hands Around the Capitol march marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States in 1973.

Both are supporters of the right to life, and with the recent loss of their daughter, they felt it was important to attend.

“With our recent loss, we definitely wanted to be here,” Kenniston said.

LaPointe said their daughter was diagnosed with many terminal conditions, and she was offered a termination, but she declined.

“We believe the Lord numbers our days, and it’s not up to us to call it quits,” LaPointe said. “We let her live. I woke up a week ago and found her heart had stopped beating.”

Grace Ann Kenniston was delivered stillborn Wednesday at 28 weeks gestation.

“I don’t have regrets because we let her live until her time,” LaPointe said. “That’s why we’re here, to honor her life.”

Kenniston said he’s known several women who have had abortions and regretted it. If they had had more support, he said, they might have made a different decision.

The event, which was canceled at the last moment last year, was organized this year without the usual rally at the nearby St. Michael School. In deference to the cold weather, it was further shortened on Saturday, eliminating the march from the school and instead gathering across from the State House.

After a prayer led by Bishop Robert Deeley of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the replica Liberty Bell was rung 49 times and each time it was rung a red rose was laid down.

Karen Vachon, executive director of Maine Right to Life, which puts on the annual event, said she wasn’t sure how many people would attend.

“This is our biggest attended event,” she said, and it generally attracts about 400 people. She had printed about 50 programs and was surprised at the turnout.

“People are really dedicated and would like to see Roe reversed and create and foster a culture of life in the state of Maine,” she said.

Vachon noted that it is possible that the 1973 Supreme Court decision could be overturned by the current Supreme Court.

The court, with a supermajority of six conservative justices, heard oral arguments in December in a challenge to a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. The court could issue its decision this summer.

She said Maine has more deaths than births, and she would like to see the resources currently devoted to abortions to be directed to services to help women and mothers.

Maine is one of the states that in recent years has expanded access to abortion, requiring all insurance and Medicaid to cover the procedure and expanding who can perform them.

“We would have a younger, more vibrant state if we just embraced a culture of life,” she said.

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