Matt Blumenthal

In anticipation of the Supreme Court's devastating decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, I co-founded the Connecticut General Assembly's Reproductive Rights Caucus. We got to work immediately, passing the nation-leading Reproductive Freedom Defense Act — the nation's first shield law for abortion and gender-affirming care — last year. 

This year, as extreme abortion bans and other attacks on women's and LGBTQ healthcare have proliferated elsewhere in the country, we haven't let up. We continued our national leadership in the fight to protect our healthcare providers, residents, and those who come here for care from other states' barbaric laws, and to ensure that every person has access to the healthcare they need and deserve.

As the Co-Chair of the Caucus, I am honored to share the broad agenda of reproductive rights bills we passed this session. We celebrated this Tuesday as the Governor signed them into law. They include:

• Public Act 23-128, which protects Connecticut medical providers who offer reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare services against baseless attacks on their licenses, malpractice insurance, privileges, or credentials;
• Public Act 23-52, which allows pharmacists to prescribe birth control and expands access and equity in contraception;
• Public Act 23-41, which ensures access to reproductive healthcare services by college students at public institutions of higher education;
• Public Act 23-56, which establishes safeguards against the collection, sharing, and selling of personal data online, including health-related information; and
• Public Act 23-147, which improves maternal healthcare by expanding birthing hospitals in Connecticut. 

You can watch this video for my complete remarks honoring these bills' passage into law. Women and LGBTQ individuals must be able to control their own bodies, including the decision when and whether to be pregnant, without interference from politicians or the government. As Co-Chair of the Reproductive Rights Caucus and your state representative, I want to assure you that we will not flag in this fight.

Connecticut has long been a champion of reproductive rights. With your help, we will continue our leadership.