U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Expanded Access

Connecticut

Abortion will remain legal in Connecticut. State law protects abortion and Connecticut has enacted additional laws to expand abortion access.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, Viability

Restrictions in Effect

  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement

Restrictions

Connecticut law generally prohibits abortion post-viability and during the third trimester.1 Connecticut’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities2 and reporting.3

State Protections

Connecticut law includes an express statutory protection for abortion.4 It states:

The decision to terminate a pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus shall be solely that of the pregnant patient in consultation with the patient’s physician or, … the patient’s advanced practice registered nurse, nurse-midwife or physician assistant.

Connecticut funds medically necessary abortions 5 and allows advanced practice registered nurses, nurse-midwives, and physician assistants to provide abortion care in addition to physicians. 6 The state prohibits deceptive advertising by Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs).7 In 2022 and 2023, Connecticut enacted interstate shield laws protecting providers, patients, and people who help others access abortion from licensure consequences8 and the reach of out-of-state investigations and legal actions and the disclosure of information.9 Interstate shield protections extend to gender affirming care.10 The state enacted a data privacy law to safeguard reproductive health data and prohibit the use of geofencing to track, gather, and send consumer data.11

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Connecticut repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1990.12 and, in 2022, enacted interstate protections for abortion providers and helpers who perform or assist in reproductive healthcare services permitted under Connecticut law.13

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will remain legal in Connecticut. State law protects abortion and Connecticut has enacted additional laws to expand abortion access.

  1. CONN. GEN. STAT. ANN. u00a7 19a-602(b); CONN. AGENCIES REGS. u00a7 19-13-D54(h). ↩︎
  2. CONN. AGENCIES REGS. u00a7 19-13-D54(c)-(d); id. u00a7 19a-116-1. ↩︎
  3. Id. u00a7 19-13-D54(b). ↩︎
  4. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. u00a7 19a-602(a). See also Meleney-Distassio v. Weinstein, 59 Conn. L. Rptr. 392 (Conn. Super. Ct. Nov. 20, 2014) (u201c[T]he proposition that with respect to a decision to have an abortion, decision-making authority is vested solely in the person actually pregnant . . . is definitively resolved in this state by General Statutes u00a7 19au2013602.u201d). ↩︎
  5. Doe v. Maher, 515 A.2d 134 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1986); CONN. OP. ATT’Y GEN. NO. 1998-022 (Nov. 16, 1998). ↩︎
  6. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. u00a7 19a-602(d). ↩︎
  7. Id. u00a719a-912a. ↩︎
  8. Id. u00a719a-17e. ↩︎
  9. Id. u00a7u00a7 486, 488; Id. u00a7 54-162. ↩︎
  10. Id. u00a752-571n; H.B. 6941, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Conn. 2023). ↩︎
  11. Id. u00a7u00a742-515u201442-526. ↩︎
  12. Id. u00a7u00a7 53-29u201453-31 repealed by 1990 Conn. Acts 90-113, u00a74 (Reg. Sess.). ↩︎
  13. u00a0S.H.B. 5414,u00a02022 Leg.,u00a0Reg. Sess. (Co.u00a02022). ↩︎