Far-reaching abortion protection bill clears Connecticut senate
The Connecticut state senate passed an expansive abortion rights bill Friday night, and the state’s governor is expected to sign it in the coming days.
The bill was specifically designed to counter Texas’ anti-abortion law. It provides legal recourse and protection to abortion providers in Connecticut in the event they’re dragged into an interstate legal battle.
Connecticut’s senate passed the bill by a vote of 25-9. The legislation passed the state house earlier this month, and Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has made it clear he will sign it.
Once the bill becomes law, Connecticut law enforcement agencies will be banned from cooperating with investigations tied to out-of-state abortion laws. Out-of-state patients’ medical records will be sealed from subpoenas, and governors will be prohibited from extraditing people back to their home states.
“It is somewhat outrageous that another state thinks it can come into our state and sue clinicians,” Republican state senator Heather Somers said, according to the Hartford Courant.
Many legal observers expect a summer U.S. Supreme Court ruling will strike down or significantly weaken the landmark Roe v. Wade decision from 1973. Experts described the Connecticut legislation as a potential blueprint for other Democratic-led states seeking to protect abortion rights.
“It’s definitely going to have ripple effects,” University of Pittsburgh law professor Greer Donley told the Washington Post. “Once it’s enacted, people are going to take notice.”
The bill also expands the number of medical professionals who can perform common first trimester abortions. Currently such procedures are limited to physicians, but the bill empowers advanced practice registered nurses, nurse-midwives and physician assistants.
Several Republican-led states, including Oklahoma and Idaho, have attempted to copy the paradigm-shifting Texas law. Democrat-led states have countered with their own efforts.
The Family Institute of Connecticut, an opponent of the Nutmeg State’s bill, may have accidentally described its purpose perfectly when it said the bill will provide “safe harbor” for “abortion providers who violate abortion laws in other states.”
With News Wire Services
