abortion in Connecticut

Sarah Grosvenor was involved in a colonial court hearing after an unsuccessful abortion resulted in her death. After a seemingly successful surgical abortion performed by Dr. John Hallowell, Grosvenor became sick. She died on September 14, 1742, in her hometown of Pomfret, Connecticut, after surgical complications.{{Cite journal|title=Taking the Trade: Abortion and Gender Relations in Eighteenth-Century New England Village.|journal=The William and Mary Quarterly|volume=48|issue=1}}{{Cite book|title=The New England Historical and Genealogical Register|publisher=New England Historic and Genealogical Society|date=n.d.}}{{Cite book|title=Women's Roles in Eighteenth-Century America|last=Smith|first=Merrill}}

Three years after Grosvenor's death, her case was taken to court. Historians believe the incident came to the attention of the court after years of gossip and rumors. Zerviah and Sarah's friend Abigail Nightingale testified in court, recounting what Grosvenor had confessed to both of them separately from her death bed. The court identified her physician, John Hallowell, and her lover, Amasa Sessions, as responsible for her murder. The court charged the individuals for both putting Sarah into bad health and the attempted abortion, as it was done in an attempt to conceal her pregnancy. The court hearing ended in Amasa's innocence and the conviction of Hallowell with a misdemeanor. The court case did not acknowledge Grosvenor's abortion as murder of the fetus, even though Zerviah had testified that Grosvenor had felt the child move from within her. It has been understood by historians that Amasa was deemed innocent as he had lost his lover and had not performed the operation that resulted in her death.{{Cite journal|title=Giving Birth|journal=Lotions, Potions, Pills, and Magic: Health Care in Early America}}{{Cite journal|last=Cheu|first=Maggie|title=Now and Then: How Coverture Ideology Informs the Rhetoric of Abortion|journal=Texas Journal of Women and the Law}}{{Cite book|title=Opposition & Intimidation: The Abortion Wars & Strategies of Political Harassment|last=Doan|first=Alesha|publisher=U of Michigan|year=2007}} Grosvenor's case has been argued as one of the most well known surgical abortion cases in colonial America.

Abortions took place early in the state's history.  People at that time talked about abortions using euphemisms.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97may/abortex.htm|title=When Abortion Was a Crime|website=www.theatlantic.com|access-date=2019-05-22}}

Connecticut was the first state in the nation to make abortion a criminal offense. The state did this by statue in 1821, codifying what was already found in the state's common law. The 1821 Connecticut law targeted apothecaries who sold "poisons" to women for purposes of inducing an abortion, and New York made post-quickening abortions a felony and pre-quickening abortions a misdemeanor in 1829.{{cite journal|last1=Alford|first1=Suzanne M.|year=2003|title=Is Self-Abortion a Fundamental Right?|url=http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?52+Duke+L.+J.+1011|journal=Duke Law Journal|volume=52|issue=5|pages=1011–29|jstor=1373127|pmid=12964572|access-date=2019-05-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122060327/https://law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?52+Duke+L.+J.+1011|archive-date=2019-01-22|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-abortion-timeline-story.html|title=Timeline of abortion laws and events|last=Tribune|first=Chicago|website=chicagotribune.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-23}} In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens. By 1950, the state legislature would pass a law stating that a woman who had an abortion or actively sought to have an abortion regardless of whether she went through with it were guilty of a criminal offense.{{Cite journal|last=Buell|first=Samuel|date=1991-01-01|title=Criminal Abortion Revisited|url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/2174|journal=New York University Law Review|volume=66|issue=6 |pages=1774–1831|pmid=11652642 }}{{failed verification|date=June 2022}}

After the Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on the use of contraception in 1965 with Griswold v. Connecticut, which recognized a right to privacy in the "emanations and penumbras" of the Bill of Rights,{{cite court|litigants=Griswold v. Connecticut|vol=381|reporter=U.S.|opinion=479|date=1965|url=https://supreme.justia.com/us/381/479/case.html}} a large group of women filed suit in federal court for the District of Connecticut to block enforcement of the state's abortion law, which allowed the procedure only when the life of the patient was in danger. The court ruled in their favor in 1972, and after the General Assembly amended the statute to include a preamble stating its purpose in preserving life, it found that insufficient when it reviewed the statute a second time later that year, holding that a fetus is not a person within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.{{cite court|litigants=Abele v. Markle|vol=351|reporter=F.Supp.|opinion=224|court=D.Conn.|date=1972|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/351/224/2594895/}}{{cite news|last=Kandell|first=Jonathan|title=2d Connecticut Law On Abortion Voided|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/21/archives/2d-connecticut-law-on-abortion-voided-a-connecticut-law-curbing.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 20, 1972|access-date=June 22, 2022}}

In the years after Roe made the state's appeal moot, voters began to be perceived as tolerant of abortion. In 1990 Governor William O'Neill, a Catholic who personally opposed abortion, signed the first bill in the nation that codified the terms of Roe (and later Planned Parenthood v. Casey) into state law, saying "the decision to terminate a pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus shall be solely that of the pregnant woman in consultation with her physician."{{cite news|title=Connecticut Governor Signs First Bill Granting Right to Abortion|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-01-mn-294-story.html|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=May 1, 1990|access-date=June 22, 2022}}

The state was one of 10 in 2007 to have a customary informed consent provision for abortions.{{Cite web|url=https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/graphics/gpr1004/gpr100406t1.pdf|title=State Policy On Informed Consent for Abortion|date=Fall 2007|website=Guttmacher Policy Review|access-date=May 22, 2019}} Connecticut is one of 17 states that use their own funds to cover all or most "medically necessary" abortions sought by low-income women under Medicaid, 13 of which were required by State court orders to do so.{{cite web|url=http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/faq.htm|title=Frequently Asked Questions|author=Francis Roberta W.|work=Equal Rights Amendment|publisher=Alice Paul Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417234051/http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/faq.htm|archive-date=2009-04-17|url-status=dead|access-date=2009-09-13}} In 2017, Washington State, New Mexico, Illinois, Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey allow qualified non-physicians to prescribe drugs for medical abortions only.{{cite web|url=https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/01/13403/study-abortions-are-safe-when-performed-nurse-practitioners-physician-assistants|title=Study: Abortions Are Safe When Performed By Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Certified Nurse Midwives|date=17 January 2013 |access-date=25 January 2017}}

In May 2019, the state was debating a bill about Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs). The proposed bill would prohibit them from engaging in deceptive advertising.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/abortion-law-by-state/ |title=Are there *any* states working to protect abortion rights?|date=2019-05-17|website=Well+Good |access-date=2019-05-25}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.wshu.org/post/connecticut-house-considers-regulation-crisis-pregnancy-centers|title=Connecticut House Considers Regulation Of Crisis Pregnancy Centers|last=Udoma|first=Ebong|website=www.wshu.org |date=16 May 2019 |access-date=2019-05-25}} The law was passed in 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=835&which_year=2021|title=An Act Concerning Deceptive Advertising Practices Of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers.|website=www.cga.ct.gov |date=26 May 2021 |access-date=2022-06-26}}

In response to the 2021 Texas Heartbeat Act, which allowed private civil suits against anyone performing or facilitating an abortion, even one performed on a Texas resident out of state or from out of state, the General Assembly passed House Bill 5414, signed into law by Governor Ned Lamont in early May 2022. It allows anyone sued under the Texas law or those like it passed in other states over an abortion that took place in whole or part in Connecticut to countersue in Connecticut for the same amount awarded. The state's courts may not issue subpoenas or any orders related to, nor may state government, and all law enforcement, cooperate with, an investigation or prosecution out of state of an abortion that would be legal if performed in Connecticut. The governor is also forbidden from extraditing to another state any resident sought by another state for prosecution under its abortion laws if the act alleged would have been legal in Connecticut. On the medical side, HB 5414 allows advanced practice registered nurses, nurse midwives and physician's assistants to perform suction abortions in addition to medication abortions.{{cite news| author-link = Mark Joseph Stern | last = Stern |first=Mark Joseph|title=Only One Blue State Is Fully Preparing for the Next Phase of the Abortion Wars|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/04/connecticuts-abortion-protection-blueprint.html|newspaper=Slate|date=April 20, 2022|access-date=July 2, 2022}}

Other states supportive of abortion rights had passed some elements of HB 5414, but Connecticut, according to a law professor whose research had informed the bill, was the first state to do it in one bill and go to great lengths to protect providers.{{cite news|last=Stracqualursi|first=Veronica|title=Connecticut lawmakers pass bill to protect abortion seekers and providers from out-of-state lawsuits|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/30/politics/connecticut-abortion-legislation/index.html|newspaper=CNN|date=April 30, 2022|access-date=July 1, 2022}}{{cite news|last=Kitchener|first=Caroline|title=Conn. lawmakers pass bill to be 'place of refuge' for abortion patients|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/30/connecticut-abortion-rights/|newspaper=Washington Post|date=April 30, 2022|access-date=June 27, 2022}} HB 5414 inspired a similar bill in the Council of the District of Columbia,{{cite web|last=Nadeau|first=Brianne|author-link=Brianne Nadeau|title=Statement of Introduction — Human Rights Sanctuary Amendment Act of 2022|url=https://www.brianneknadeau.com/sites/default/files/2022-05/human_rights_sancturary_amendment_act_of_2022_w_memo1_1.pdf|publisher=Council of the District of Columbia|date=May 6, 2022|access-date=July 1, 2022}} and neighboring New York passed in mid-June a series of similar laws.{{cite news|last=Gronewold|first=Anne|title=Abortion protections in New York fortified ahead of SCOTUS ruling|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/13/abortion-new-york-scotus-00039191|newspaper=Politico|date=June 13, 2022|access-date=July 1, 2022}}{{cite news|last=Borter|first=Gabriella|title=New York governor signs legal protections for abortion providers and patients|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-governor-signs-legal-protections-abortion-providers-patients-2022-06-13/|newspaper=Reuters|date=June 14, 2022|access-date=July 1, 2022}}

The Connecticut Supreme Court said in 1904, "The public policy that underlies this legislation is based largely on protection due to the woman, protection against her own weakness as well as the criminal list and greed of others. The criminal intent and moral turpitude involved in the violation, by a woman, of the restraint put upon her control over her own person is widely different than that which attends the man who, in clear violation of the law, and for pay and gain of any kind, inflicts an injury on the body of a woman endangering health and perhaps life."

The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. However, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, {{ussc|597||2022|docket=19-1392}} later in 2022.{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/politics/dobbs-mississippi-supreme-court-abortion-roe-wade/index.html |title=Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade |first=Ariane |last=de Vogue |date=June 24, 2022 |access-date=June 24, 2022 |work=CNN |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624141808/https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/politics/dobbs-mississippi-supreme-court-abortion-roe-wade/index.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Howe |first1=Amy |title=Supreme Court overturns constitutional right to abortion |url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/supreme-court-overturns-constitutional-right-to-abortion/ |work=SCOTUSblog |date=June 24, 2022 |access-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624142633/https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/supreme-court-overturns-constitutional-right-to-abortion/ |url-status=live}}

File:Number of abortion clinics in Connecticut by year.png

{{See also|Abortion clinic}}

Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by 3, going from 46 in 1982 to 43 in 1992.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDqXplZptaIC|title=A State-By-State Review of Abortion and Reproductive Rights|last1=Arndorfer|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Michael|first2=Jodi|last3=Moskowitz|first3=Laura|last4=Grant|first4=Juli A.|last5=Siebel|first5=Liza|date=December 1998|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=9780788174810}} In 2014, there were 21 abortion clinics in the state.{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-abortion-clinics-are-in-america-each-state-2017-2|title=The number of abortion clinics in the US has plunged in the last decade — here's how many are in each state|last=Gould|first=Rebecca Harrington, Skye|website=Business Insider|access-date=2019-05-23}} In 2014, 15% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 5% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.es/abortion-access-in-america-maps-charts-if-roe-falls-2018-8|title=This is what could happen if Roe v. Wade fell|author1=Panetta, Grace |author2=lee, Samantha|date=2018-08-04|website=Business Insider|language=es|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=2019-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524083342/https://www.businessinsider.es/abortion-access-in-america-maps-charts-if-roe-falls-2018-8|url-status=dead}} In March 2016, there were 17 Planned Parenthood clinics in the state.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestate.com/news/databases/article67953487.html|title=27 states with the most Planned Parenthood clinics|last=Bohatch|first=Emily|website=thestate |access-date=2019-05-24}} In 2017, there were 17 Planned Parenthood clinics, of which 17 offered abortion services, in a state with a population of 812,634 women aged 15–49.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-planned-parenthood-locations-states/ |title=Here's Where Women Have Less Access to Planned Parenthood|access-date=2019-05-23}}

In the period between 1972 and 1974, there were zero recorded illegal abortion deaths in the state.{{Cite journal|last1=Cates|first1=Willard|last2=Rochat|first2=Roger|date=March 1976|title=Illegal Abortions in the United States: 1972–1974|journal=Family Planning Perspectives|volume=8|issue=2|pages=86–92|doi=10.2307/2133995|jstor=2133995|pmid=1269687}} In 1990, 443,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy. In 2014, 67% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ |title=Views about abortion by state - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics |work=Pew Research Center|language=en-US|access-date=23 May 2019}} In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.{{Cite web |title=States pushing abortion bans have highest infant mortality rates |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/states-pushing-abortion-bans-have-higher-infant-mortality-rates-n1008481 |access-date=2019-05-25 |website=NBC News|date=24 May 2019 }}

In 1964, Gerri Santoro of Connecticut died trying to obtain an illegal abortion and her photo became the symbol of the pro-choice movement.{{cite web|url=http://www.cwluherstory.org/something-real-jane-and-me-memories-and-exhortations-of-a-feminist-ex-abortionist.html|title=Something Real: Jane and Me. Memories and Exhortations of a Feminist Ex-Abortionist|last=Johnson|first=Linnea|publisher=CWLU Herstory Project|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725214230/http://www.cwluherstory.org/something-real-jane-and-me-memories-and-exhortations-of-a-feminist-ex-abortionist.html|archive-date=2011-07-25|url-status=dead|access-date=2010-05-23}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecut.com/2017/01/timeline-the-200-year-fight-for-abortion-access.html|title=Timeline: The 200-Year Fight for Abortion Access|last=Larson|first=Jordan|website=The Cut |date=17 January 2017 |access-date=2019-05-25}} A photo of her dead body was published in April 1973 in Ms. magazine, making her death a rallying cry for many in the abortion rights movement.

Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/21/abortion-laws-stopthebans-rallies-set-across-nation-today/3750913002/ |title=Abortion rights supporters' voices thunder at #StopTheBans rallies across the nation|last=Bacon|first=John|website=USA TODAY |access-date=2019-05-25}}

Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, thousands protested in New Haven, Connecticut.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Thousand-protest-Roe-in-New-Haven-warning-more-17264710.php |title=Thousand protest Roe in New Haven, warning more rights could be lost|last=Stannard|first=Ed|website=New Haven Register |access-date=2024-01-27}} On the same day over a hundred abortion rights protesters gathered in downtown Stamford{{Cite web|url=https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stamford-Greenwich-protesters-vow-to-fight-17264684.php |title=Stamford, Greenwich protesters vow to 'fight like hell' in a post-Roe v. Wade America|last=Del Valle|first=Veronica|website=Stamford Advocate |access-date=2024-01-27}} and the New Milford Town Green.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/With-signs-and-chants-New-Milford-rally-protests-17264657.php |title=With signs and chants, New Milford rally protests Supreme Court abortion ruling: 'We have a lot of work to do'|last=Fox|first=Sandra Diamond|website=News Times |access-date=2024-01-27}}

In 1965, a Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut set a precedent for an expansive right to privacy in the area of reproductive healthcare. In the late 1960s, in response to nationwide abortion-rights efforts, a number of organizations were formed to mobilize opinion against the legalization of abortion.{{Cite web|url=https://tah.oah.org/november-2016/abolishing-abortion-the-history-of-the-pro-life-movement-in-america/|title=The American Historian: Abolishing Abortion: The History of the Pro-Life Movement in America|website=tah.oah.org|access-date=2019-04-05}}

Family Institute of Connecticut, an interdenominational, conservative tax-exempt nonprofit organization whose stated goal is to encourage and strengthen the family as the foundation of society and to promote Judeo-Christian ethical and moral values in the culture and government of Connecticut.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctfamily.org/parent/fic/the-team/|title=The Team - Family Institute of Connecticut}}[http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-convention1011.artoct11,0,3472569.story Catholic Bishops Urge 'Yes' Vote On Constitutional Convention] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024122754/http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-convention1011.artoct11,0,3472569.story |date=2008-10-24 }} Hartford Courant, Christopher Keating, October 11, 2008{{cite web|url=http://www.ctfamily.org/parent/vision/|title=Vision - Family Institute of Connecticut}}

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{{Abortion by US state}}

Connecticut

Category:Healthcare in Connecticut

Category:Women in Connecticut