After Roe Fell: 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

State Protections

Connecticut law includes an express statutory protection for abortion.1 It states, “the decision to terminate a pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus shall be solely that of the 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 2 and allows advanced practice registered nurses, nurse-midwives, and physician assistants to provide abortion care in addition to physicians. 3 The state prohibits false or deceptive advertising by Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs).4 In 2022 and 2023, Connecticut enacted interstate shield laws protecting providers, patients, and people who help others access abortion from licensure consequences5 and the reach of out-of-state investigations and legal actions and the disclosure of information.6 Interstate shield protections extend to gender affirming care.7 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.8

Restrictions

Connecticut law generally prohibits abortion post-viability.9 During the third trimester, abortions may only be provided “when necessary to preserve the life or health of the expectant mother.”10 Connecticut also requires measures used to support life in a premature infant if there appear to be “signs of life following an abortion.”11

Connecticut’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities12 and reporting.13

Historical Restrictions

Connecticut repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1990.14

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will remain legal in Connecticut, though subject to restrictions in the third trimester.

  1. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-602(a); see also Meleney-Distassio v. Weinstein, 59 Conn. L. Rptr. 392 (Conn. Super. Ct. Nov. 20, 2014) (“[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 § 19a–602.”). ↩︎
  2. Doe v. Maher, 515 A.2d 134 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1986) (noting the term means “abortions necessary to ameliorate a condition that is deleterious to a woman’s physical and or psychological health”); Conn. Op. Att’y Gen. No. 1998-022 (Nov. 16, 1998). ↩︎
  3. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-602(d). ↩︎
  4. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. §19a-912a. ↩︎
  5. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-17e. ↩︎
  6. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. §§ 54-162; 54-82i(b). ↩︎
  7. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-17e. ↩︎
  8. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. §§ 42-515-42-526. ↩︎
  9. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-602(b) (exception for “when necessary to preserve the life or health of the patient”). ↩︎
  10. Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19-13-D54(h). ↩︎
  11. Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19-13-D54(g). ↩︎
  12. Conn. Agencies Regs. §§ 19-13-D54(c)-(d); Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-116-1. ↩︎
  13. Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19-13-D54(b). ↩︎
  14. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. §§ 53-29-53-31, repealed by 1990 Conn. Acts 90-113, § 4 (Reg. Sess.). ↩︎