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The Connecticut State Senate gave final approval late Friday to a new plan to turn the state into a safe abortion haven for patients living in conservative states who are moving fast to restrict access to the procedure.
The bill, which Gov. Ned Lamont (D) has promised to sign, is designed to protect patients and abortion providers against some of the most controversial elements of recent state-level abortion laws – including provisions that allow private citizens to prosecute anyone. which helps facilitate abortion and measures aimed at preventing residents from having abortions beyond the state.
“Legislators in [antiabortion] the states have made it clear that they intend not only to ban abortion within their own countries, but also to ban it in states where it is explicitly allowed, “said Matt Blumenthal (D), one of the bill’s petitioners.
The inspiration for the bill, according to Blumenthal, was a Texas law passed last fall that relies on the threat of civil lawsuits to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The new measure adds Connecticut to a list of Democrat-led states that have sought to boost protection against abortion in recent months ahead of a Supreme Court ruling expected this summer that could overturn or significantly weaken Rowe vs. Wadethe remarkable case that guaranteed the right to abortion throughout the country since 1973.
But while some other states have focused primarily on laws that codify the right to abortion within their own borders, legal experts say the Connecticut plan stands out for its efforts to a shield against new efforts in the anti-abortion movement to stop abortion patients from crossing national borders to seek care in places with less restrictive laws.
Greer Donley, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School who studied anti-abortion law, said Democratic states that seek to protect abortion rights – but focus only on the inside – pass laws that may not withstand the challenges ofdeer world where anti-abortion states try to pass legislation outside their borders.
These laws “do not necessarily provide the protection that many people consider [they] will, ”said Donley, whose study informs some of the provisions of Connecticut law.
California has proposed bills that offer some of the same protections as Connecticut law, many of which are quickly passing through the legislature. But no other bill envelops all protections in one package, said David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University who worked with Donley to study anti-abortion legislation.
Donley said he expects the Connecticut law to become a model for other Democrat-led states that want to protect access to abortion.
“It’s definitely going to have ripple effects,” Donley said. “Once introduced, people will pay attention.”
In the plan to create an abortion shelter for the post-Rowe era
If deer has been lifted, limiting abortions outside the state is likely to become the “next frontier” for the anti-abortion movement, Cohen said. In some states, Cohen added, the strategy has already begun to emerge.
A Missouri Republican lawmaker proposed legislation earlier this year that would allow private citizens to prosecute anyone who helps a Missouri resident get an abortion outside the state using the legal strategy behind Texas law.
The Texas Act and other laws modeled after it could be used to target providers or donors who help a Texas patient gain access to an abortion in Connecticut, Blumenthal said.
So far, 13 states have proposed bills similar to those in Texas.
During a debate in the Senate in Connecticut on Friday night, the senator from the state of Saud Anwar (D) described the national landscape of abortion as a “crisis”.
“We will be a refuge for many people,” Anwar said.
The Missouri legislature seeks to prevent residents from having abortions outside the state
The Connecticut bill will offer broad protection from abortion laws trying to reach other states.
This will allow anyone in Connecticut who is being tried under the Texas Abortion Act to file a counterclaim for damages, attorney’s fees and other litigation costs.
The measure will also protect people from out-of-state subpoenas or subpoenas issued in cases involving abortion procedures that are legal in Connecticut. And that would prevent Connecticut authorities from sticking to another state’s request to investigate or punish anyone involved in facilitating legal abortion in Connecticut.
In addition to protecting providers and patients in Connecticut from legal liability, the new measure will also expand access across the state by allowing registered nurses, midwives and certified medical assistants to perform abortions.
Some Republicans in the legislature have objected to this particular provision.
“We can all agree that we want abortions to be legal, safe and rare,” said Connecticut spokesman Kimberly Fiorello (R). “And I believe that this bill is going in the opposite direction.”
The bill received some support from both parties in both the State House and the Senate. In a debate Friday, State Senator Heather Somers (R) said
the bill is needed to protect clinicians in Connecticut.
“I think it’s somewhat outrageous that another state thinks it can come into our state and sue our clinicians who are performing a procedure that’s legal and safe here in Connecticut,” Somers said.
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