State reaction mixed on leaked Supreme Court draft

May 3—Reaction in Connecticut was mixed today on the leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court suggesting that earlier this year a majority supported overturning the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, with most local policy and lawmakers aghast and proponents optimistic.

State Reps. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, and Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, co-chairs of the Reproductive Rights Caucus for the Connecticut General Assembly said today that the draft decision overruling Roe v. Wade was "long expected" but nevertheless, devastating.

"We are heartbroken for all those who will soon lose access to safe, legal abortion," Blumenthal and Gilchrest said today through a prepared statement, noting that the caucus drafted and championed recently passed legislation to protect the right to choose to have an abortion in Connecticut in anticipation of the trend throughout the country.

Still, "as bad as any overruling of Roe would be, this specific draft opinion is even worse. Its logic puts a host of other rights on the chopping block — gay marriage, other LGBTQ rights, contraception. Its language makes clear that nothing is off the table for this Court," they wrote.

Attorney General William Tong echoed the legislators, saying his office was in the process of reviewing the leaked draft decision with multistate partners.

"It is impossible to overstate just how tragic and destructive this decision would be, and what it would mean for the rights of women and patients nationwide," Tong said in a statement released late Monday. "This would fundamentally and irrevocably change who we are as a nation, stripping rights that have been hard-wired into our laws for as long as many of us have been alive.

"If this decision stands, America will be immediately divided in two — states that will trust the personal and professional decisions of women and doctors, and states where craven politicians will seek to control and criminalize those choices," Tong said, adding the draft opinion has the potential to change "every single major legal question before the Court."

Representatives from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England said today that the country was at "crisis moment for abortion access."

Despite the leaked draft opinion, the organization reaffirmed its commitment to provide and protect access to abortion for all.

Planned Parenthood officials pointed to a Washington Post-ABC poll that shows 75% of people believe decisions on abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor, including 95% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 53% of Republicans. A Gallup poll finds that 80% of the American public think abortion should be legal, they further noted.

"It is important to note that abortion is still legal. The law has not changed — this is a draft opinion with no current legal authority," officials wrote in a prepared statement.

President and CEO Amanda Skinner said the leaked opinion confirms the organization's "worst fears" that the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade.

"This is a national crisis for reproductive freedom — if the protections of Roe are dismantled or overturned, more than 36 million women and many more people who can become pregnant could immediately lose access to abortion," Skinner said. "Abortion is currently still legal in America, and we will continue to fight like hell to protect access to safe, legal abortion."

Peter Wolfgang, executive director for the Hartford-based Family Institute of Connecticut, was pleased at the turn of events, however.

"We are thrilled if this turns out to be true," Wolfgang said today of the draft opinion. "This is only a leaked draft. So no decision is official or known until it actually comes out. Right now, we just want to be sober. We're praying for these justices and we want to let the court finish its job. We are in a wait and see mode."

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford this morning pointed to the legislation passed last week in that is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont which protects out-of-state people from civil lawsuits if they travel to Connecticut for an abortion.

While Candelora voted against the bill, he said Republicans were supportive of that provision.

The pending U.S. Supreme Court decision, he said, "will have no impact on Connecticut because those rights were already codified."

The Supreme Court's decision, Candelora said, is likely to allow states to govern their own abortion policies, "which I think the founders envisioned."

Secretary of State Denise Merrill, disagreed, though, saying the leaked opinion "will have a terrible toll — on women, on doctors and nurses providing health care, on our already divided country.

"Women of my generation fought for our entire lives to protect these precious rights — this decision is a betrayal of the blood, sweat, and tears that were poured into this effort," Merrill said today.

"It is cold comfort" that Connecticut has taken steps to ensure that the right to choose to have an abortion will remain protected, she added, but the U.S. Supreme Court is clearly "poised to overturn almost five decades of settled law."