Connecticut lawmakers passed a measure Friday night to open the state to women from around the country seeking abortions, a swipe at more conservative states that ban the procedure once fetal heartbeats are detected.
The bill, which was proposed with bipartisan support in both houses of Connecticut’s legislature, would allow out-of-state visitors to undergo the procedure without consequence. Connecticut’s Senate passed the bill by a vote of 25-9 late Friday night, and it is expected to be signed by the governor.
“We will be a place of refuge for a lot of people,” state Sen. Saud Anwar, a Democrat, said during the Connecticut Senate debate Friday night, calling the national abortion landscape a ”crisis.”
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The bill takes aim at Republican-controlled states that have imposed restrictions on abortions, seeking to protect patients from outside the state who could otherwise be liable for having the procedure.
“Legislators in [anti-abortion] states have made clear that their intent is not only to ban abortion within their own states’ borders but to ban it in states where it is expressly permitted,” state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, one of the sponsors of the bill, told the Washington Post.
Recent legislation passed initially by Texas and replicated in other states allows private citizens to sue those who facilitate abortions, meaning private citizens can initiate lawsuits in a process denounced by critics as “bounty hunting.”
Connecticut joins a list of states controlled by Democrats that are enacting measures to prevent liabilities from being ascribed to people seeking abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as “a pro-choice research organization.” At least 11 similar measures have been enacted so far in seven states.
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The bill has gone to the desk of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat who promised to sign the bill. If signed, it will go into effect in July.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on an abortion case in Mississippi this summer that could weaken the landmark ruling of Roe v. Wade, which paved the way for abortions to be legal in every state. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, centers on the constitutionality of a ban on abortions after 15 weeks.
