Connecticut law anticipates a spike in out-of-state demand if the Supreme Court overthrows Roe. The legislation expands who can perform in-clinic procedures known as suction or aspiration abortions, joining just over a dozen other states that have similar regulations.
Amanda N. Skinner, the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, said in an interview that there was already anecdotal evidence that some out-of-state patients wanted abortions at her group’s clinics in Connecticut, and providers expect more. — and legal battles to come.
“We had to do everything we could to make sure they feel as safe as possible when they come to our community, and that our caregivers are confident in their ability to provide care to people — no matter where they come from,” Ms. Skinner said. “The urgency of this moment is incredibly clear.”
The Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports abortion rights, expects women who want to have abortions to travel much further to find a provider who can legally perform it. A woman in Ohio, for example, would have to travel 286 miles one way to access a legal abortion if the court removes deer protection, compared to 19 miles now. Evidence shows that in restrictive states like Texas, women have crossed state lines to have abortions elsewhere.
The state of abortion in the US
Who gets an abortion in America? The typical patient is most likely already a mother, poor, single, late 20s, college educated, and very early in pregnancy. Teenagers today have far fewer abortions. Nearly half of abortions take place in the first six weeks of pregnancy and almost all of them in the first trimester.
“The law empowers abortion providers to seek comfort and confidently care for their patients and worry less about these frivolous, civil lawsuits being brought against them,” said Katherine L. Kraschel, executive director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law. School. She testified in support of the Connecticut law. “But equally important is that we have enough providers who can provide abortion, as we will likely have people who want to have abortions elsewhere.”
In Connecticut, where the right to abortion has been part of state law since 1990, the new proposed law received bipartisan support. In the House of Representatives, several Republicans joined members of the Democratic majority to pass the bill by 87-60 votes. After hours of debate Friday night, the senators voted 25-9 to pass the bill.
But while abortion rights advocates say the Connecticut law could serve as a blueprint for other states, critics say it violates long-standing standards of legal cooperation between states. And to signal that the abortion issue doesn’t break purely along party lines in Connecticut, more than a dozen Democrats — most from the black and Puerto Rican caucus — voted against the measure.