On Wednesday, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a series of pro-abortion bills into law in order to ensure wide access to abortion in the state following the fall of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
“Now more than ever, it is important for state elected officials across our country to stand by the residents we represent and enact laws that protect their rights to make their own reproductive decisions,” Lamont said. “This is an issue of freedom, and the people of Connecticut can rest assured that we are doing everything in our ability to protect their reproductive rights. These new laws we’re enacting further safeguard the rights of all persons in Connecticut to access an abortion and the contraceptive care they choose.”
Lamont thanked the General Assembly’s Reproductive Rights Caucus specifically co-chairs Rep. Matt Blumenthal (D-Stamford) and Rep. Jillian Gilchrest (D-West Hartford) for their commitment to abortion.
Four bills were signed by Lamont as part of the reproductive health package with three of them being of great concern: Public Act 23-41, Public Act 23-128, and Public Act 23-56.
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Public Act 23-41, An Act Concerning Access to Reproductive Health Care by Students at Public Institutions of Higher Education, seeks to increase access to abortion for college students on Connecticut public college and university campuses. It requires that such schools develop a plan by January 1, 2024, that ensures contraception, abortion, and gender-affirming care is available to students on campus or within the local community including during holidays and vacations. Such an effort is likely to increase the pressure young women face regarding education, relationships, and unplanned pregnancy and could put their health and lives in danger. The abortion pill, which has become a staple on pro-abortion college campuses, was found to be four times more dangerous for women than a first-trimester surgical abortion.
Public Act 23-128, An Act Preventing an Adverse Action Against a Health Care Provider Due to an Adverse Action Taken by Another State as a Result of Such Provider’s Involvement in Providing Reproductive Health Care Services, protects abortionists in Connecticut from facing legal action from a state in which pro-life laws have been enacted in order to protect preborn children and women from abortion. This includes protecting Connecticut abortionists who commit tourism abortions on out-of-state residents from pro-life states, likely including the prescribing of the abortion pill. It is likely to invite more abortion into the state as it becomes a “safe haven” for criminal abortionists.
Public Act 23-52, An Act Concerning The Department of Consumer Protection’s Recommendations Regarding Prescription Drug Regulation, will allow pharmacists (who are not physicians) to prescribe birth control despite the potential risks to women’s health. The law allows pharmacists to prescribe a hormonal contraceptive and emergency contraceptive after they have completed an accredited educational training program. The American Medical Association actually opposes independent prescribing of hormonal birth control by pharmacists “without appropriate physician supervision.”
The only ‘restriction’ on abortion in the state of Connecticut is that abortion not be committed at or after so-called “viability” unless the mother’s life or health is endangered — a very broad statement. However, intentionally killing a preborn child is never truly medically necessary, and “viability” is highly subjective.
