With Roe in jeopardy, Connecticut is poised to become a “safe harbor” for abortion patients | Tech Reddy

Connecticut saw 9,202 abortions performed in 2019, the latest year for which data is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of abortion patients who traveled from other states to Connecticut that year, 3.6 percent, was among the lowest in the nation.

Part of the reason for the low number of patients traveling from out of state is likely that neighboring states like New York and Massachusetts already have robust access to abortion services through clinics and hospitals. The advent of new laws limiting access to abortion in distant states, however, has already forced some patients to travel farther to seek services, providers say.

“We’re already seeing patients from other states, particularly Texas, seeking care in Connecticut now that they’re unable to get that care in their home states,” Amanda Skinner, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, said. he said on Tuesday. “And we prepared for the possibility of an influx.”

Skinner said she was “furious” about the leaked opinion, but that Connecticut remains poised to be a safe haven for abortion patients. She said the bill the state legislature passed last week, which is awaiting a signature from Governor Ned Lamont, expands the categories of medical professionals who can perform abortions, allowing Connecticut to respond to any increased demand. .

“The passage of this bill could not come soon enough, because we need to do everything we can in a state like Connecticut to expand access to abortion care for our patients and for patients who may come from other states,” he said. .

Leaders of the Legislature’s Reproductive Rights Caucus responded to news of the leaked opinion with a pledge to protect Connecticut’s status as a “safe harbor” for patients and doctors who are forced to leaving their home states because of laws that criminalize abortion services.

“The people who come here for care, we’re going to protect them. The providers who come here and provide care, we’re going to protect them. The people who help others get care, we’re going to protect them,” said state representative Matt Blumenthal. , D-Stamford, caucus co-chair.

Pro-choice sentiment prevails in Connecticut

As officials in more conservative states eagerly await the opportunity to limit or ban abortion in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned, leading Connecticut lawmakers on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to abortion access.

In a statement Tuesday, Lamont’s campaign reaffirmed its support for new legislation to lessen the impact of anti-abortion laws in other states, saying it intends to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.

“Governor Lamont is incredibly proud of the progress Connecticut has made in protecting a woman’s right to receive safe abortion care,” the campaign said in a statement. “The governor will continue to do everything in his power to defend these rights, which includes using his office and his platform to advocate and fight for a woman’s right to choose.”

While abortion nationally is often a highly partisan issue, in Connecticut at least some key Republicans have taken pro-choice stances, indicating they will not seek to limit access to abortion if they win control of the state legislature. Last week’s abortion legislation was passed with the support of a handful of Republicans, as well as most Democrats.

Bob Stefanowski, the presumptive Republican nominee in this year’s gubernatorial election, said in a statement Tuesday that “the leaked Supreme Court opinion changes nothing here in Connecticut.”

“In Connecticut, a woman’s right to choose is fully protected by state law,” Stefanowski said.

A spokesman for Stefanowski did not respond to a question about whether the candidate would veto anti-abortion legislation if it were presented to him as governor.

In an interview Tuesday morning, Rep. Laura Devlin, a Republican from Fairfield and Stefanowski’s running mate, offered a similar view.

“[The pending Supreme Court decision] it affects nothing in the state of Connecticut,” he said. “Roe v. Wade is codified in state law, so whatever the Supreme Court does, it doesn’t affect the state of Connecticut.”

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he supports states having the right to set their own abortion laws, but he considered the issue to be resolved in Connecticut.

“What we’re seeing in states like Texas is something that I think Connecticut residents would have problems with,” he said. “And that’s why part of that legislation was trying to protect Connecticut residents, that Republicans supported that concept.”

Connecticut’s abortion law dates back more than two centuries, when, in 1821, the state became the first in the nation to pass an explicit ban on abortions induced after “acceleration,” or the point at which the fetus begins to move in the womb. The state’s abortion ban remained in effect until 1973, when the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Roe v.

More recently, Connecticut has become one of the most staunchly abortion-rights states in the country, with majorities of both Democrats and Republicans supporting legal abortion, according to a 2014 Pew poll.

A national shift

Although abortion protections are enshrined in Connecticut law, experts have warned that any decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would have immediate consequences for millions of Americans who live in states that are ripe for a crackdown on access to abortion, especially those in the South and Midwest.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, at least 13 states have so-called “trigger laws” that limit access to abortion that go into effect immediately after the court’s decision to overturn its precedent.

States such as Texas and Missouri have sought to move forward with such a decision, drafting legislation that would allow any resident to sue a doctor or patient for participating in an abortion.

After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed such a law last year, Stanwood said he began seeing patients show up from Texas to receive abortion services at clinics in Connecticut.

“These are the people who have the resources to travel,” Stanwood said, adding, “banning abortion doesn’t make people’s need for abortion go away, and when it becomes incredibly difficult to obtain what it leaves behind to the people who are in poverty, it leaves behind the communities that historically have been present of medicine such as people of color and communities of color.”

While the leaked opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and confirmed by Chief Justice John Roberts openly suggests that the court’s decision will turn the issue of abortion back to state legislatures, nothing in the decision prevents Congress from take a more national approach.

Already on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, promised to hold a vote on legislation that would codify abortion rights in federal law, although Democrats do not seem to have enough votes to eliminate the filibuster to bypass Republican opposition.

If Republicans take control of the federal government in this year’s midterms and the subsequent 2024 presidential elections, they could try to enforce a single national policy on abortion.

“Without a constitutional right, Congress is completely free to pass a statute that makes abortion a crime or simply bans abortion in all states,” said University of Connecticut law professor Anne Dailey. “Even the liberal states are in danger, if we have in the future a Republican Congress and a Republican president. It is not out of the question that a ban on abortion could be carried out at the national level or, at least, there will be efforts at this point.”

Although Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the leaked opinion Tuesday afternoon, the court warned that it was not a final decision and that the opinion could still be subject to revisions or even a change in the way of one or more of the votes of the judges.

No decision by the Supreme Court is official until it has been released to the public by the court, typically before the end of its annual session in late June or early July.