Abortion clinics, patients still need protection
I work with the Hartford
GYN Center here in Connecticut, and when we saw the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, our clinic team was rattled. Our fears were becoming reality; we could soon lose the federal right to abortion access.
When I heard the news, I was heartbroken for the millions of people across the country whose state politicians will now double down on their anti-abortion agenda, and I couldn’t help but be thankful that here in Connecticut, state laws will protect our right to abortion if Roe falls.
Abortion is legal and available in Connecticut, and independent clinics like ours are here to provide care. Amid nationwide threats to abortion access, our elected leaders in Connecticut are ensuring that we will be a safe haven for abortion access. Lawmakers recently passed HB 5414, a bill to help protect the rights and safety of patients who travel from states such as Texas and Oklahoma to Connecticut for abortions they can’t get in their home state, as well as the providers who care for them.
This legislation is an important step in the right direction, but there’s still work that needs to be done to ensure abortion is not only legal but fully accessible in Connecticut.
Emboldened by an increase in anti-abortion legislation and rhetoric nationwide, anti-abortion extremists are showing up in full force to harass people at clinics. What many people don’t realize is that these extremists are not peacefully protesting in public spaces, rather, they are hurling insults, threatening violence, blocking access to entrances and creating an unsafe environment for patients and providers at clinics.
Just last year, we had to move our Hartford clinic to a location in Bloomfield because an anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy center” opened next to our clinic, going so far as to copy our name. This is not unique to our clinic — anti-abortion activists set up these kinds of operations across the country. We must educate our communities about this and destigmatize abortion so extremists can no longer exploit misunderstanding and stigma to trick people and block them from getting the health care they deserve.
It’s also time to build our power at the local level and call on our representatives to champion a bolder agenda for reproductive justice that builds on and expands the protections in HB 5414. We need to protect abortion clinics grappling with the threat of harassment and violence by calling on our representatives to invest funding in clinic support. With adequate resources, we can ensure our clinics are secure and equip our volunteers and staff to monitor and document threats and harassment. Individually, too, we can help donate resources and volunteer at independent clinics and abortion funds that play a critical role in our Connecticut community. We need to destigmatize abortion and give our friends, family and neighbors the information and resources they need to make informed decisions about if, when or how to parent.
I’ll continue showing up each day to support the abortion providers I work with as we connect people with care, but we need your support too. Now is the moment to talk to your friends, neighbors and co-workers about what’s at stake not only nationwide, but right here in Connecticut. We need your help to ensure that our clinics remain safe and we can continue to offer compassionate abortion care for all people in our state.
Abortion is essential health care. Abortion is about freedom, financial stability, gender equality and the autonomy to shape our lives the way we want to. It is one of the most important rights we have, and we must do everything in our power to protect it.