Connecticut lawmakers are considering two state constitutional amendments this spring that would create a “right” to kill unborn babies in abortions.
One bill, Senate Joint Resolution 42, met with overwhelming public opposition Monday at a hearing in the Joint Government Administration and Elections Committee. Members of the public submitted dozens of written testimonies, almost all of them opposing the pro-abortion bill.
“… a right in the Connecticut Constitution to abortion up to birth or for any reason is a radical and extremist proposal and outside even moderate pro-choice views,” Peter Wolfgang, president of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action, testified to lawmakers.
He pointed to a 2022 Gallup poll that found 35 percent of Americans say abortions should be legal “under any circumstances.”
If ratified, the amendment would create a “right to privacy,” including “the fundamental right to reproductive freedom … to prevent, continue or end one’s own pregnancy” in the Connecticut Constitution.
Connecticut already allows unborn babies to be aborted with very few limits, and pro-abortion Democrats control the state legislature. But the amendment would make it more difficult for future state lawmakers to pass even modest restrictions on abortion.
Others who testified against the bill included leaders of the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, doctors, nurses and a Jewish rabbi who described abortion as “mass-murder of the preborn.”
ACTION ALERT: To opoose this radical measure Contact Connecticut state lawmakers.
“Abortion-on-demand is unequivocally and demonstrably against Jewish Law, both in letter and in spirit,” Rabbi Noson Leiter, executive director of Help Rescue Our Children, testified. “In plain English, please do not obscure ‘lethality’ under the guise of ‘privacy,’” he continued, adding that “doing so deceives the public and thereby undermines the legitimacy of any such ballot amendment.”
To amend the state constitution, the measure either must pass the legislature by a three-fourths majority in both chambers or pass by a simple majority in both chambers in two successive legislative sessions, and then be approved by voters on the ballot. Connecticut voters may be presented with the measure in November 2024.
According to the National Catholic Register, state Rep. Keith Denning, D-Wilton, recently introduced a similar pro-abortion constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 8.
His amendment would “allow for reproductive freedom by permitting a person, in consultation with such person’s physician, the choice to have an abortion under the state Constitution.”
Denning told the Register that the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year prompted him to create the legislation.
“I met hundreds of people who felt betrayed by our national change by the Supreme Court to protect the right to an abortion,” he said. “While we have laws that protect a women’s right to an abortion, people realize that with a change in party, the protection could be removed here in Connecticut and they would lose the right.”
But Chris Healy, executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference, condemned the effort as an attempt to “glorify” killing babies in the womb.
“The Dobbs decision propelled the abortionists in Connecticut with a quandary — what more can they push for in a state with prevalent abortion services?” Healy said. “[This is] a cynical attempt to glorify Connecticut as a national center for the taking of human life.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to abortion in June, the pro-abortion movement has been trying to create a “right” to abort unborn babies in state constitutions through ballot initiatives.
Vermont, California and Michigan passed pro-abortion constitutional amendments in November, and pro-life leaders are warning of similar efforts in Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada and South Dakota.
Several states have pro-life constitutional amendments that voters passed in recent years, including Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Currently, 14 states are enforcing pro-life laws that prohibit or strictly limit the killing of unborn babies in abortions, and others are fighting in court to do the same. Pro-life leaders estimate tens of thousands of babies’ lives have been saved since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June.
Polls consistently show a strong majority of Americans support legal protections for unborn babies, especially after the first trimester or once their heartbeat is detectable.
ACTION ALERT: To opoose this radical measure Contact Connecticut state lawmakers.
