Connecticut’s largest abortion provider has seen more than 50% increase in out-of-state patients since the Dobbs decision last year overturning the nationwide legalization of abortion.
More than a dozen states have restricted access to abortion and reproductive health care, forcing many pregnant people to travel for legal medical attention.
For many people of reproductive age, Connecticut has become their safe harbor.
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England’s Medical Director Dr. Ayiti Maharaj-Best said the organization has treated people in states with Democratic majorities —because they can’t treat patients where abortion is illegal.
“This year at our health centers in Connecticut, we have provided care to 56% more patients who have traveled from those 18 states that enacted abortion bans and restrictions following the Dobbs decision,” Maharaj-Best said. “And we expect that number to continue to grow as more states like Nebraska and North Carolina, take steps to further restrict abortion access.”
The Connecticut Legislature passed a sweeping set of laws in the 2022 session to protect health care providers in the state from being sued for performing abortions on people from states where the procedure is illegal.
U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) wants Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Law to make abortion federally legal, but said they don’t have the votes.
“We're hoping to get to some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who understand that this is the right thing to do, to preserve the 50-year constitutional and fundamental right that women have to make a choice for abortion and to enshrine Roe into into law,” DeLauro said on the steps of the New Haven County Courthouse on Wednesday.
