People from across the US have mailed about 3,000 coat hangers to the office of Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose vote could determine the fate of Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s second supreme court nominee.

Activists fear Kavanaugh’s appointment will tip the court to the right and place in jeopardy Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guarantees abortion rights. The hangers, which have been arriving at Collins’ office since July, symbolize the dangerous techniques used in back-alley abortions that take place where abortions are not legal.

Activists have also pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund an opponent to Collins in 2020, if she votes in favor of Kavanaugh.

Activists in Maine send messages to Susan Collins.

The end of contentious confirmation hearings this week has shifted the focus back to potential swing votes of Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Republicans hold the Senate 51-49 and can secure Kavanaugh’s appointment with a simple majority or the tie-breaking vote of Vice-President Mike Pence. Both Collins and Murkowski will probably have to vote “no” for Kavanaugh to be blocked.

Collins has kept quiet about how she will vote. Nonetheless, she signaled that Kavanaugh had cleared one hurdle by telling her he considered Roe v Wade settled law.

A spokeswoman for Collins said, on Saturday, a recently released email from Kavanaugh, in which he disputed that all legal scholars see Roe as settled, did not contradict what he told the senator because he was not expressing his personal views.

Many are unconvinced. Earlier this month, Francis Boyle, a law professor at the University of Illinois, told the Guardian he thought “Kavanaugh was put on there to ensure Roe is overturned”.

Boyle added: “He has used the … dodge of saying it is settled law. So what? The supreme court can unsettle it tomorrow. He did not say it was decided correctly.”

The pressure on Collins and Murkowski is accordingly intense, with liberal groups running TV ads encouraging them to reject the nomination. But Collins, who fought the Republican effort to scrap the Affordable Care Act, is used to being in the hot seat.

“I always wait until after the hearings are complete before making a decision, and I’ll do so in this case as well,” she said in an interview.

Murkowski, who also supports abortion rights, will not announce her vote before Kavanaugh’s nomination goes to the Senate floor.

“Basically, she’s still vetting the new information that’s coming out,” said her spokeswoman, Hannah Ray.

Collins is following the process she used with Republican nominees John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch and Democratic nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan,

“I respect the fact that one of my jobs is to determine whether or not the candidate is qualified for the court,” she said, “has the requisite experience, and has the judicial temperament, as well as respect for precedence”.

While she has never voted against a supreme court nominee, Collins has promised to reject a candidate who is hostile to Roe v Wade.

In Durham, Maine, Mindy Woerter said she traveled to Washington to meet Collins and tell her about an abortion she had because the fetus she was carrying had a fatal anomaly.

“We need to make sure that we preserve that right in the future,” she said. “A lot of people in Maine would be disappointed if she decided to vote for Kavanaugh.”

Collins said she was “shocked when many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle took a position on the nominee before his identity was even known. That’s just extraordinary.”

Last month, Collins voted to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood – a day after the organization rallied in Washington to encourage her to vote against Kavanaugh. On Thursday, the group delivered letters to her office in Bangor.

“I’ve learned not to expect a ‘thank you’,” she said.