HARTFORD — A network of volunteer private attorneys will help provide free legal guidance to both in-state and non-residents seeking access to abortion and other reproductive services under Connecticut’s “safe harbor“ law, Attorney General William Tong announced on Tuesday.
Tong, in a news conference in the State Office Building with about 30 advocates and lawmakers, said last spring’s US Supreme Court decision overturning 50 years of national abortion rights has changed the legal landscape in many ways, some of which might not be known until time passes and elections are decided.
Promising to “build a firewall” against the nationwide conservative campaign to prohibit reproductive rights, Tong will also appoint a new special counsel for reproductive rights in his office’s Civil Rights Unit to safeguard abortion access and reproductive care in Connecticut and nationwide.
“This is about law enforcement,” Tong said. “Enforcing the law of the state of Connecticut, right? And we’re going to put muscle behind that law enforcement, making sure that patients and providers are protected. Today is about making sure what our priorities are.”
Safety, access, affordability and protecting patients from prosecution, civil suits and professional sanctions are the main goals, in addition to a shopping list of possible legislation for the next General Assembly, especially targeting the high mortality rate for Black women in Connecticut, as well as deceptive advertising for so-called crisis pregnancy centres, advocates said.
The Connecticut-based lawyers will join a New York State advice system already in place at 212-899-5567. “It is an army of lawyers,” Tong said, crediting New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Abused women who want to assure their personal privacy, students and foreign-born women elements of the state’s law and other women in a variety of circumstances were encouraged to use the hotline, which will supplement the