After Roe, Conn. Democrats, GOP plan divergent paths on abortion
As states continue to navigate the post-Roe legal landscape, Democrats in Connecticut are planning to build on their efforts last year to strengthen abortion protections while Republicans are proposing bills to require parental consent for minors to get an abortion.
The overturning of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade last June prompted the Democrat-controlled General Assembly to enact the first major reforms to Connecticut’s abortion law in decades.
The legislative Reproductive Rights Caucus, led by U.S. Reps. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, and Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, wants to further protect abortion providers in Connecticut against legal action from other states where abortion is prohibited or severely limited. Several states that have moved to restrict abortion have shown a desire to pass laws allowing private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who knowingly “aids or abets” an abortion.
“There’s serious concern about medical practitioners
“Children, especially young children, do not have the experience and the capacity to make life-changing decisions. We don’t let them drive. We don’t let them smoke. We don’t let them drink alcohol. We don’t let them carry guns. We don’t let them sign contracts because they don’t have the facilities to make informed decisions that are appropriate.”
State Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R- Chaplin
here being impacted by out of state actions,” Blumenthal said.
This year, the caucus is proposing a bill to protect providers’ malpractice insurance and their licenses against frivolous complaints related to legal reproductive health care performed in Connecticut.
The caucus will unveil its full agenda next week, Blumenthal said, which will include bills focused on ensuring access to abortion care including increased funding for programs that provide care reimbursement.
That includes increased funding for maternity, labor, and care throughout the state, especially to address racial disparities in infant and maternal mortality rates, he said.
A proposal from a group of Democrats to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution is not on the reproductive rights caucus’ agenda.
“I have strong confidence right now in our protections for abortion rights in Connecticut,” Blumenthal said. “A constitutional amendment is not in our agenda or priority bills. Obviously, we support the idea that the state constitution does and should include a right to privacy that includes the right to safe, legal abortion.”
Several Republican bills introduced this legislative session would require minors to obtain parental consent to get an abortion.
The bills would also allow teens to seek court approval in “extraordinary circumstances” where they could not seek parental consent.
Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R- Chaplin, a sponsor of several parental consent bills, said the circumstances would have to be extreme for a minor to seek court approval such as facing the threat of abuse if they were to seek parental consent to get an abortion. Dubitsky said he envisions a minor going to a social worker or a police officer or another trusted adult in the community to initiate the judicial process but said those kinds of details are still being worked out.
“A kid is not going to just walk into a court room and talk to a judge,” he said.
The state’s existing counseling law, which requires minors to be counseled before getting an abortion, is inadequate, Dubitsky said, and no substitute for parental involvement.
“Children, especially young children, do not have the experience and the capacity to make life changing decisions,” he said. “We don’t let them drive. We don’t let them smoke. We don’t let them drink alcohol. We don’t let them carry guns. We don’t let them sign contracts because they don’t have the facilities to make informed decisions that are appropriate.”
Dubitsky has also signed on as co-sponsor of a bill that would require parental consent when a minor undergoes “any medical or mental health service” including terminating a pregnancy.