Democrats in Connecticut will continue to hold the line to keep abortion legal and safe.

Hartford, CT –  Sen. Lindsey Graham joined anti-abortion leaders today to unveil a new attack on national abortion restrictions, a proposed federal bill that will overrule states that allow abortion, and severely limit abortion access in every state across the country. 

In Connecticut, Governor Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and the Democratic ticket have promised to protect and defend our abortion access laws. Connecticut’s federal delegation has also promised to fight to keep abortion legal and safe nationally.

Connecticut cannot count on Bob Stefanowski and his Republican ticket to defend or support abortion, despite his claims. Bob Stefanowski supports additional restrictions on abortion access, attended RGA meetings with prominent antiabortion leaders candidates and lawmakers and donated the maximum $5,800 contribution to support extreme anti-choice Republican Leora Levy. The RGA has also doubled down on their support for Bob Stefanowski while working with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America who is currently advocating for national abortion restrictions and hosting meetings with Republican governors and gubernatorial candidates. 

The right to a safe and legal abortion is on the ballot this November.

“I am proud to stand up for access to reproductive healthcare and reproductive freedom. As long as I am Governor, we’ll never waiver on the right to choose, and the belief that medical decisions should be made between a patient and their doctor,” said Gov. Ned Lamont.

““Governor Lamont and I will always support a women’s right to choose,” said Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz. “Make no mistake, we will not let up in this fight. In November, women’s reproductive rights are on the ballot. We must elect leaders who will continue to fight for reproductive freedoms in Connecticut and across the country. Governor Lamont and I have a proven track record, and we are the only candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor you can trust to continue to protect the rights of women across our great state.”

“Today Republicans made their end goal clear: to strip away a woman’s fundamental right to make her own healthcare decisions and ban abortion nationwide, even in states like Connecticut where there is broad support for abortion rights. If Congressional Republicans truly cared for American children and their families, they would support policies like the expanded and improved Child Tax Credit, paid family and medical leave, and more. I encourage everyone to stand up for this fundamental right. We can stop this assault on women’s freedoms by electing pro-choice candidates,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

“Senator Lindsey Graham’s introduction of a new bill to restrict abortion’s nationwide further underscores that our core freedoms, including a woman’s right to safe and legal abortion services, are at stake in the upcoming midterm elections. Now more than ever before, all Democrats must work together to defeat an increasingly extremist Republican element that calls into question freedoms that had long been settled. Following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the urgency of this moment couldn’t be clearer,” said Rep. John Larson.

”After months of claiming women’s rights are a state issue, the GOP has again shown us we can’t take them at their word,” said Rep. Jim Himes. “Their goals are clear: strip rights and freedoms away from Americans one law at a time. It has never been about states’ rights, it’s about control.”

“Lindsay Graham’s national abortion ban bill powerfully demonstrates that women’s healthcare is on the ballot in every Congressional race. Graham’s proposed ban would overturn Connecticut’s carefully crafted abortion law that passed in 1990, and which I voted for as a member of the General Assembly. In eastern Connecticut the choice is clear: my proven record protecting women’s privacy and health care decisions or an extreme, right wing Republican who celebrated the Dobbs decision last June, and who cannot be trusted to protect Connecticut’s law,” said Rep. Joe Courtney.

“With the introduction of this bill, there is no question that the issue of abortion was never about states’ rights. This is an assault on women’s reproductive health and puts government where only a woman and her doctor belong at the most personal moment. I will continue to fight for reproductive rights and for all the freedoms that are currently under attack,” said Rep. Jahana Hayes.

“In Connecticut, we were the first state to add protections for abortion providers and women after Roe was overturned by the radicals on the Supreme Court,” said Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. “Now that work and the subsequent laws passed by other states are being threatened by MAGA Republicans in DC. This proposed bill will be a wake up call across the country for voters to not only elect Democrats locally, but also to keep a Democratic majority in Congress.”

“Senator Graham’s proposal to ban abortions nationwide shines a flood light on the Republican extreme agenda across the country and in Connecticut,” Connecticut Speaker of the House Matt Ritter said. “It is another example of why Connecticut must remain vigilant and never waiver in our efforts to protect a woman’s right to choose.”

“Republicans keep playing politics with women’s lives,” said State Representative Jillian Gilchrest, co-chair of the Legislature’s Reproductive Rights Caucus. “Lindsey Graham and the new Republican Party will stop at nothing to ban access to abortion, putting women’s health and lives in jeopardy. A 15-week ban is an unnecessary restriction that seeks to further limit abortion care and ignore the realities of pregnant people. I am proud to support Governor Lamont and our federal delegation who believe women, trust providers, and will protect access to abortion.”

“This bill is a deliberate attempt by the GOP to roll back our rights. We’re seeing it in our courts and our state legislatures where there have been over 1,000 bills passed to restrict reproductive freedoms. We know choice is on the ballot this year and we need everyone knocking doors, making calls and working to ensure we elect pro-choice candidates in November,” said Mayor Caroline Simmons.

“After spending months saying the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade would “let states decide” how to regulate abortion, Senate Republicans have introduced bill that would restrict abortion nationwide,” said Nancy DiNardo, Chair of the Democratic Party. “In Connecticut, we are committed to fighting any advancement of nationwide abortion limits. For those of us who remember a world before Roe, and those who have only known they had the right, allowing Republicans to turn back the clock is not an option.”