In the waiting room of the Planned Parenthood clinic in New London on Wednesday morning, one man and two women chatted and filled out forms until their names were called, while a video screen on one wall flashed messages about birth control and primary care services available there, and a corner television broadcast the latest news on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

In the exam rooms, other patients were receiving care ranging from cancer screenings, pregnancy tests and breast exams to abortions and routine physicals.

By outward appearances, it was a typical, busy day at the clinic, one of three Planned Parenthood offices in southeastern Connecticut that together provide preventive, primary and gynecological care to about 9,000 patients annually. While most of the patients are women, about 12 percent are men who receive testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and testicular cancer screenings.

But after the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia a year ago, the nonprofit agency that is the main health care provider for thousands increasingly is finding itself on the defensive.

Gorsuch, though he has not ruled specifically on an abortion case, is expected to follow Scalia’s footsteps in opposing Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion in 1973.

“We have a message for members of the Senate on Judge Gorsuch: opposing Roe v. Wade is a disqualifier,” Judy Tabar, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, said in a statement Wednesday. She heads Planned Parenthood’s 18 offices in Rhode Island and Connecticut, including those in New London, Norwich and Old Saybrook.

“The right to safe and legal abortion has been the law of the land for more than 40 years,” Tabar said. “Nominees to the highest court in the land must make clear that they will protect our fundamental rights — including the right of a woman to control her body. It has become crystal clear that the courts are going to be the last — and sometimes the only — line of defense against dangerous and unconstitutional attacks on basic rights.”

Last Friday, thousands gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the March of Life to protest abortion. Majority Republicans in the House and Senate would like to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provided more than a third of the nation's abortions in 2014, the Associated Press reported. They also hope to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Trump has pledged to sign both measures if they reach his desk.

Vice President Mike Pence said ending taxpayer-funded abortion is among the Trump administration's most important goals, according to the AP.

But there is more at risk for Planned Parenthood than whether patients still can come to the agency for surgical or medication-induced abortions, which constitute less than 10 percent of all the services provided at the agency, Tabar said.

“There are extreme politicians who are trying to defund and shut Planned Parenthood down,” she said.

Proposals have been advanced by anti-abortion groups and lawmakers seeking to disqualify Planned Parenthood from receiving any reimbursements from Medicaid for any services. Already, no Medicaid reimbursements can be received for abortions, Tabar said, but opponents of the organization want to take it further and hobble the agency completely.

About half of all Planned Parenthood patients are low-income or disabled women and men enrolled in Medicaid, she said, and would not be able to receive care through the agency if the government health insurance program did not pay for the services. An earlier proposal to defund Planned Parenthood was vetoed by President Barack Obama but is expected to resurface and be welcomed under the Trump administration, she said.

“What’s at risk is that half our patients would be denied access to family planning and primary health care,” Tabar said. “There’s already a provider shortage. For many of our patients, we are their primary care provider.”

In addition to gynecological and sexual health services, Planned Parenthood also treats patients for illnesses ranging from bronchitis to strep throat and sinus infections, and performs physicals required for work and schools.

Krista Tyburski of New London, for one, has appreciated the care she has received at Planned Parenthood over the years. While she is not currently a patient there, she said in the past she relied on the agency for routine checkups and gynecological care.

“It would definitely be a bad thing for public health in general” if Planned Parenthood were forced to close or curtail services, she said. “It would be especially bad for less fortunate people who will struggle to find care.”

JoAnn Eaccarino, associate director of school-based health services for the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, said teenage patients at the agency’s school-based health clinics who need contraception often are referred to Planned Parenthood, among other agencies.

“We absolutely need it,” she said. “They provide a great service for so many women, throughout their lifespans.”

Tabar said Planned Parenthood is taking the threats to its future “very seriously” and is encouraging its supporters to “speak up and speak out” and to let lawmakers know how important the services are to them.

In a statement Wednesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., registered his concerns about the Gorsuch nomination, and vowed to protect women’s health care.

“I have deep, serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch,” Blumenthal said. “Whatever his credentials are on paper, most important to me are the real life impacts of his judicial opinions and views. An extreme ideologue on the court will threaten privacy rights including women’s health care, worker and consumer protections, and public health and safety.”

He said he would reject an “ideologically extreme nominee."

“I have reached no conclusion, but I will support a hearing and a vote,” Blumenthal said. “If I conclude that Judge Gorsuch is out of the mainstream, then I will pursue every legal tool available to block his nomination.”

j.benson@theday.com