Stefanowski’s terrible Roe answer

It’s no secret that Republicans have to walk a tightrope in a place like Connecticut. It’s been 16 years since the state has put any of them in statewide or federal office, and they’re deeply outnumbered in voter registration.

And to be fair, nearly every state politician’s public reaction to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade focused on Connecticut law, where the right to an abortion is protected. But there was something uniquely tone deaf in gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski’s statement, which managed to hit every wrong note possible.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling has absolutely no impact on Connecticut residents,” Stefanowski said June 24. That’s probably why rallies and marches were held around the state protesting the decision — people often take to the streets over nothing.

On this planet, Connecticut is still a part of the United States, and with about half the country facing trigger laws that immediately outlaw or restrict abortion, it has a pretty serious impact on a lot of people, including friends and family of people who live here.

Then there’s the matter of travel. Medical emergencies happen, and if you think Connecticut residents aren’t in danger if they happen to be traveling while pregnant in some parts of the country, you might want to read up on some recently passed state laws. It will also make people think twice about taking a job in Florida or Texas. To say the ruling has no impact on Connecticut residents assumes no one ever goes anywhere.

It got worse. “I will continue to support Connecticut’s state law, which has codified a woman’s right to choose, with an appropriate ban on late-term abortion,” Stefanowski said. Late-term abortion is exceedingly rare, and nearly always happens because the mother’s life is in danger. Mentioning it in this context is meaningless except to appeal to extremists.

And he went further. “Governor Lamont takes the extreme position that parents don’t even have a right to know their daughter is considering an abortion, while I support mandatory notification to parents for girls under sixteen.”

Did it occur to Bob, or whoever wrote this statement, why someone under 16 might seek out an abortion without wanting their parents knowing about it? Think about this one for about 10 seconds, Bob, and see if you can come up with a few reasons why this might be necessary.

For a Republican to win in a heavily Democratic state, they need to hold onto their party while picking off enough Democrats or independents dissatisfied with the way things are going. That means not turning off hardcore Republicans, because he’s going to need every one of them to have a chance of winning in November. The problem is that hard-core Republicans keep pushing further to the right, which turns off persuadable voters.

You can argue against that formulation, but the recent history of Connecticut politics shows the difficult road Republicans face. It was way back in 2006, when Jodi Rell was elected to a full term as governor and Chris Shays won his last two-year term in Congress, that Republicans won anything above the municipal level here. Since then, even in years where Republicans have run the table elsewhere, they’ve been shut out here.

For instance, 2010 was a huge year for Republicans, but Dannel Malloy won the governor’s race and Jim Himes held on in what was then a closely contested Fourth District. Malloy was up again in 2014, the same year the Fifth District was considered a toss-up and Republicans were romping nationwide. It didn’t happen here.

All signs until recently had 2022 looking the same, but who knows what impact stripping rights away from millions of Americans will have.

Already there are those questioning whether that’s what really happened. As if coming from the same script, a number of letters to the editor in recent days have downplayed the significance of the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, saying the court didn’t really decide anything; it just sent the issue back to the states. But it did so in full knowledge of the many states with trigger laws immediately curbing abortion upon Supreme Court action.

Connecticut finds itself in a changed world. Barring the passage of a nationwide abortion ban — which Republicans will certainly seek the next time they gain control of Congress and the White House, which could be as soon as 2025 — our state needs to offer itself as a refuge for people who don’t want to live by rule of religious reactionaries. Right now, we don’t do a good job of that.

If Connecticut is not an affordable place to live, in the places where the jobs are plentiful, then it has nothing to offer people who might want to live in a place more in line with their values. Republicans in Connecticut, led by Stefanowski, are making a big push on affordability, but almost exclusively in terms of things like gas prices and grocery bills, as if Ned Lamont sets the terms of the global oil market.

In the meantime, Stefanowski dismisses one of the most consequential Supreme Court rulings in recent history by saying it doesn’t affect anyone here. He’s wrong.

No one envies the balancing act required by a Republican running in Connecticut. It’s not easy being a Democrat in Arkansas, either. But when you run for office, this is what you sign up for.