Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

Governor Lamont Signs Reproductive Freedom Defense Act Into Law

Contact: Tim Yergeau
[email protected]
Cell: 203-815-9825

For Immediate Release: May 5, 2022


Connecticut acts to expand access to abortion care and protect patients and providers as politicians and judges across the country attack the constitutional right to abortion

(New Haven, CT) – This afternoon, Governor Ned Lamont signed The Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, Public Act 22-19, into law. This legislation passed the House on April 19, 2022, with a vote of 87-60 and the Senate on April 29, 2022, with a vote of 25-9, receiving bipartisan support in both chambers.

This is the most significant abortion legislation passed by the General Assembly since Connecticut codified the right to safe, legal abortion in state law in 1990. This act modernizes the state’s abortion law in line with current medical standards of care, removing medically unnecessary restrictions to allow qualified advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to provide aspiration abortion for their patients. The Reproductive Freedom Defense Act also helps shield Connecticut abortion providers and anyone forced to travel to our state to access safe, legal abortion care from lawsuits and targeted attacks by politicians in other states with extreme, radical abortion bans.

With the U.S. Supreme Court ready to overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade and while politicians across the country are determined to eliminate the right to abortion, Connecticut lawmakers are protecting and expanding abortion access in our state.

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) and partners in the Connecticut Coalition for Choice thank the bill’s proponents, Representatives Jillian Gilchrest and Matt Blumenthal, Senators Gary Winfield and Saud Anwar, members of the Public Health and Judiciary committees, the Reproductive Rights Caucus and our champions in the Connecticut General Assembly for passing the bill – and we thank Governor Lamont for recognizing the urgency of this moment and signing the bill into law.

Amanda Skinner, President & CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England states:

At a time when the right to abortion is under attack nationwide, Connecticut is taking bold action to ensure patients have access to safe, legal abortion care in our state. Passage of this bill couldn’t come soon enough because we need to do everything we can to expand abortion access here in Connecticut, for our patients and for patients coming from other states.

We are so grateful to Governor Lamont for signing the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act today and to our legislative champions for acting swiftly to address the nationwide abortion access crisis. This legislation is an important step to ensure people have full bodily autonomy to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. While anti-abortion politicians are capitalizing on this moment to pass increasingly extreme and harmful abortion bans, Connecticut is once again leading the fight for reproductive freedom in our country.

 

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) is one of the region’s largest providers of sexual and reproductive health care services. Since 1923, PPSNE has evolved into an organization with 15 health centers in Connecticut and Rhode Island, delivering care to 62,000 patients annually. For nearly 100 years, PPSNE health centers have provided a broad range of services, sexual health education, information, and health counseling. Ninety percent of the services provided are preventive.

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.