Submitted by Jen Barro, Retired physician and Greenwich resident
Before the fall of Roe, generations of women took reproductive rights and access to abortion for granted. Now, we depend on our state lawmakers for protections. We only need to look to 22 states with laws banning or severely restricting abortion access to see what can happen if we fail to elect true pro-choice candidates in Connecticut.
If you look closely, it’s obvious who the real pro-choice candidates are.
Recently, all four Greenwich Democratic state House and state Senate candidates — Rachel Khanna, Steve Meskers, Hector Arzeno and Nick Simmons — were endorsed by Planned Parenthood, a well recognized organization that advocates for access to reproductive health care. Missing from the endorsement announcements were all four local Republican candidates. This is not an accident; there is no requirement that endorsees be from a particular party, just that candidates want to be identified as a champion for choice, and demonstrate through their record and questionnaire responses that their views are in line with the organization’s mission.
In 2022, after the fall of Roe had been forecasted through a leaked Supreme Court decision and in response to the threats of Texas vigilante-style prosecution of women and healthcare providers, a bipartisan group of Connecticut state legislators passed the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act. That bill increased access to abortion in our state by allowing, in addition to physicians, certain specialized advanced practitioner nurses and midwives to perform medication and non-surgical abortions in the first trimester. Fifteen other states allow this practice and it’s endorsed by the experts in the field, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, because there is evidence it is safe. The bill additionally shields patient privacy and protects medical practitioners from legal actions emanating from states with more restrictive abortion laws.
State Senator Ryan Fazio (R) voted NO on the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act. State Representative Rachel Khanna’s challenger, Tina Courpas (R) launched her campaign website detailing how she opposes that bill. Don’t be fooled by these candidates saying they are “pro-choice.” It takes much more than empty words to ensure women in Connecticut will continue to have access to safe and legal abortion care.
If you care about women having the freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies, make sure you vote for real pro-choice candidates — the Democratic candidates.