HARTFORD (LifeSiteNews) – Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont has signed into law legislation that will allow more non-physicians to perform abortions and shield abortionists from potential lawsuits for violating the pro-life laws of other states.
HB 5414 establishes that the governor can only extradite Connecticut residents for violating other states’ laws if those violations are also illegal in Connecticut (while placing similar limits on courts, public agencies, and health providers), allows abortionists sued by out-of-staters for violating those states’ abortion laws to counter-sue to recover certain costs, and empowers advanced practice registered nurses, nurse-midwives, and physician assistants to commit first-trimester aspiration abortions as well as dispense abortion-inducing drugs.
Supporters of the measure frame it as making Connecticut into a “sanctuary” for abortion in anticipation of a potential Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which would eliminate the judicially-imposed “right” to abortion and fully restore states’ ability to set their own abortion laws.
“I am very appreciative to the majority of lawmakers in Connecticut who had the foresight to draft this legislation at a time when the right to a safe and legal abortion in America is in jeopardy,” Lamont said in a statement on signing the bill, CNN reports. “I am proud to stand up for access to reproductive health care and reproductive freedom. As long as I am governor of this great state, we’ll never waiver on the right to choose and the belief that medical decisions should be made between a patient and their doctor.”
“I think you’ve heard a lot about what’s coming out of the Supreme Court and a preliminary ruling that looks like they may be on the edge of ending a woman’s right to choose,” Lamont added. “That’s not going to happen in the state of Connecticut.”
Pro-lifers have criticized the new law, with House Republican leader Vincent Candelora suggesting that it runs afoul of the the Full Faith & Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings” of every other state. “We honor each other’s laws. We’re the United States of America,” Candelora said.
Pro-lifers also argue that laws allowing non-physicians to commit abortions not only increase the number of innocent lives lost to abortion but also put the women seeking abortions in greater danger by subjecting them to abortionists with less training or experience.
The danger was most dramatically illustrated by the case of infamous Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who delegated parts of the abortion process, such as administering anesthesia, to non-physician employees, one of whom was only 15 years old. In 2015, Gosnell was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of one patient, and of first-degree murder of three born-alive infants.
Even when abortions are committed by fully-licensed physicians, they are frequently anything but safe for the mother, as evidenced by the records of numerous abortion facilities across the country, including chains embraced by abortion allies as leaders for their cause.