Matt Blumenthal

The day long feared has arrived. My heart goes out to all those, especially women, who’ll now face danger and hardship because this Court has unceremoniously ripped away a half-century of rights. The overturning of Roe will be devastating to the lives and rights of countless women across this country, subjecting their most personal healthcare decisions to the whims and interference of political ideologues. These radical laws will not end abortion. They will instead merely prevent safe, legal abortion for countless women — particularly poor women and women of color — putting their lives and health in danger. 
 
And make no mistake, this Court isn’t done destroying fundamental rights. It’s coming for the rights to contraception, marriage equality, and same-sex intimacy. The majority opinion's logic on this point is unavoidable; its protestations to the contrary are laughable. As Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan say in dissent: "Either the mass of the majority's opinion is hypocrisy, or additional constitutional rights are under threat. It is one or the other."
 
But on this sorrowful day, I’m also proud and grateful we in Connecticut passed a nation-leading law, the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, to protect all who provide or receive legal reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare in Connecticut from other states’ attacks. I was proud to co-author and lead passage of this legislation as the co-chair of the Reproductive Rights Caucus.
 
Abortion is healthcare. We will continue to fight — and legislate — to ensure that every person in Connecticut can access the fundamental right to decide when or whether to be pregnant, and control their reproductive destiny.