Connecticut abortion providers adapt to a post-Roe reality

Sam Attaguile had an abortion in her first year of graduate school in Chicago in 2013, after getting pregnant right before starting her prescribed birth control. 

“There wasn’t a question in my mind,” Attaguile said.  “Immediately, I was like, ‘This is my choice. I am not ready. This is not wanted.’” 

With support from her family and the resources at hand, Attaguile said she called Planned Parenthood to schedule her appointment and terminate the pregnancy. 

“​​I felt an enormous sense of relief as soon as that was over,” Attaguile said about her anesthetized surgical abortion. 

Now an abortion and reproductive care activist in New York, Attaguile fights for those who do not have the same access and privileges to receive safe abortion care. That fight has become more critical since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in July 2022: roughly 13 states across the country have banned legalized procedures. 

The 1973 federal ruling of Roe v. Wade, a case in which the United States Supreme Court struck down a Texas statue that banned abortion, protected those in Connecticut seeking treatment.  

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion had mostly been illegal in the United States since the late 19th century. However as years went on, states around the country— including Connecticut— began to codify abortion into their state constitutions. 

Connecticut became the first to sign legalized abortion into state statute in 1990, giving individuals the right to have such procedures performed in the state. 

The law also required individuals under the age of 16 to attend counseling before receiving the treatment and encouraged them to tell their parents. Abortions performed late in pregnancy were also permitted only if the pregnant individual’s life or health was in danger. 

However, the debate over abortion didn’t end in the beginning of the 90s.

In 1992, the United States Supreme Court issued another ruling that reaffirmed an individual’s right to abortion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. This case also expanded the control that states had in regards to regulating and restricting abortion.

“That opened the door to states being able to increase restrictions,” Hayes said. “And so starting in (1995), we started to see this creep up of states imposing more and more restrictions.”

Roxanne Sutocky, director of community engagement for The Women’s Center, which oversees Hartford GYN, said they have seen patients travel for care from as far as Texas. 

“I think one of the major considerations for folks (is) if they have family, or if they're familiar with Connecticut,” Sutocky said. “We've seen people who studied in Connecticut in the past, or whose immediate or extended families live in Connecticut. So, that's a resource to them.” 

The new ‘safe habor’ laws went into effect on July 1, only 23 days prior to the dismantling of the five decade ruling of federal abortion protections by the United States Supreme Court. 

Although the new laws sprung into action after Roe was overturned, Connecticut lawmakers had been working to expand the state’s access to reproductive services before a draft of the decision leaked in May. 

Many individuals across the state look at the trainings as a step in the right direction toward expanding abortion care access. 

Liz Gustafson, state director of ProChoiceCT and co-founding board member of The Reach Fund of Connecticut, had a non-invasive, medication-induced abortion in the state in 2018 as she was beginning her career as an abortion activist. 

She said that from her experience as a patient, she knows it is crucial for providers to not face any sort of barriers when trying to provide abortion care. 

“Having more providers who are trained in that care will help that be a reality for more people who need that kind of care,” Gustafson said. 

Despite preparing to broaden the provider workforce, some individuals immersed in Connecticut’s reproductive health conversation believe providers are approaching their work with a different mentality. 

Lauren Sardi, director of the women's and gender studies program at Quinnipiac University, said that through her experience speaking to providers across the state, “there's this two-pronged approach” to being an abortion clinician after the ruling. 

“I think there are many folks who are feeling recharged and doubling down on wanting to help other people,” Sardi said. “At the same time though, there are folks who are really paying very close attention to how laws are interpreted in other states.”  

Although Connecticut has laws in place to protect reproductive services, Sardi said she believes many abortion providers in the state are wary about their work moving forward due to other legal issues occurring in other states. 

“They're looking at how medical providers are being treated in other states,” Sardi said. “They're looking for parallel cases. They're practicing medicine very, very, very cautiously to protect themselves.”

Before the Dobbs decision, the Guttmacher Institute reported that three states had laws that would be triggered upon the overturning of Roe and that would penalize abortion providers. In addition, three others states would enact penalties 30 days after a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. Another seven states, according to the report published on June 6, 2022, would require a process to create penalties. Arizona’s state legislature is currently debating it. 

“I think although those statutes are somewhat untested, which means to some extent, we have the perception of safety, we don't know what's coming next, and there is going to be a risk,” Sutocky said. “But we're differently positioned, surely, than our counterparts.”

The future of reproductive services is more uncertain than it has been in generations, but in Connecticut, the picture is clearer than in others.

“It speaks to the work that we've been doing in Connecticut in the sense that we codified the protections of Roe v. Wade in 1990,” Gustafson said. “But there's still so much more to do.”  

EDITOR'S NOTE: This version reflects that Attaguile had her abortion in Chicago. The original version misstated the location.